Trials and Errors
by Radella Hardwick
Summary: This is the tale of Elizabeth. A girl trying to work her way through the debris of war and the feelings she was left with after the murder of one of her lovers and the survival of the other and the man who loves her best.
1. Letters

A rather nondescript Crested Owl swooped down on the girl known to all the world as Elizabeth Havisham on the third Friday of September. She removed the scroll with one hand and offered the bird a bit bacon with the other. Once it had left, she opened the letter, expecting to add it to one of the request piles. However, the note read:

EG,

The cough is worsening, he's becoming delirious. He now believes that purity should be legally coupled with muggle witches. I thought you ought know, lest his stupidity should effect you.

Your faithful servant,  
MW

If she had not been in the Great Hall, Elizabeth's jaw would have dropped and her eyes would have popped. As it was, her eyebrows shot up and she read it through again. Then filed it under 'Information' before dashing off a reply.

MW,

How long until he commits suicide?

EG

This she gave to a house elf, after having sealed it from every possible form of tampering, to take to the Owlery.

What to do? How best to counter-act Fudge's latest scheme?

Elizabeth resigned herself to the fact that this newest development from the Ministry took precedence and so banished her papers to the inner recesses of her impenetrable desk.

'_If this is, as it seems,an attempt to reduce the number of squibs and flipper-children, then it's going to be enforced on purebloods, not mudbloods.  
_'_This could be __**fun**__!_' another part of her thought, maliciously. '_We could just sit back and watch them squawk.  
_'_I think I need to see a shrink, I seem to be developing schizophrenia.  
_'_We're just different aspects of you and you've always acknowledged that.  
_'_Oh, stop being so defensive,_' she thought-snapped in exasperation that she was getting no nearer her goal. '_If this is going to hurt the purebloods the worst... Who has enough influence left to talk to Fudge, so I don't have to?_' She was about to make a list, when a shadow fell across her.

"It seems that these past few years I have been harbouring illusions. And you humoured them. You led me on..." The drawl came with a warm, playful smile and probably a half a dozen strings.

"Who am I, for God's sake, that I should be kind?" she quoted back, also smiling. "Was there something you were wanting, Master Malfoy?"

"I was wondering if madame would permit me to escort her to class." Before Elizabeth could answer, they were surrounded by a mob of potential escorts. That thought made her crack up and most of the crowd joined her, even though they did not know why she was laughing.

"Ah, Stebbins," she said, picking a fourth year Ravenclaw, whose first lesson was Potions and whose petition had arrived during the summer holidays. "Tell me, how is your uncle?"

"Not very well, lady. He is as well as can be expected."

"You can tell me the details on the way to Arithmancy." There was a collective groan, but Draco merely nodded and headed for Care of Magical Creatures.

"Well, I..." spluttered Stebbins.

"I'm sure I could find someone else, if you are unwilling or unable." The crowd, which had dissipated slightly, was suddenly back in full, clamouring force. The boy quickly weighed his rock and hard places: Snape or his father, his uncle, his elder brother, his paternal grandfather...

"Of course, I'd be delighted to assist. May I take your bag?" he asked; so as not to endure three days of Madame Pompfrey's tongue clicking and attempts to heal him, which is what happened to the last poor sod who took her bag without permission.

"Thank you," she said, charming her bag to be double its actual weight; the 15-year-old lifted it without complaint.

'_He must be desperate.  
_'_Oh, yeah!_' Her thoughts had now taken on a gleeful tone.

"So. I have only heard sketchy reports of your uncle's plight," she lied as they made their way into the Entrance Hall. "Why does he need my help?"

"It's his wife, ma'am, she died. And now, her brother's claiming that it were my uncle what killed her. And so, he's wanting her dowry back. So, me pa were wondering if ya'd pu' in a word wi' the Minister." As she opened her mouth to speak, he stopped jogging, which was the only way he could keep up, and pulled a small box out of his pocket, which he passed to her. "'E also said ta give ya this'en." Inside, was not the necklace she had expected, but a signet ring. The golden tiger's-eye and the silver setting were both engraved with tendrils and flames aplenty. In the centre, the stone held her initials and, beneath the ornate 'EG', it bore the motto 'Through faith, all things are possible' in Latin. She put it on the fourth finger of her right hand. The boy obviously took this to mean she would acquiesce, as he fell on his knees before her and grabbed both her hands.

"Thank you. Oh, thank you so much, lady," he said, pitifully. She removed her hands and bag from him and sneered.

"Does your father really think I have nothing better to do? Tell him that I tend to prefer prepositions that benefits the many and not only one, small family. Also, tell him to send someone who can actually speak!" She was about to leave, when a sudden evil thought came to her and she turned to the boy with a wicked grin on features.

"Hurry along to potions and when Professor Snape reads you the riot act, just say 'Yes, Miss Havisham, let me carry on'. Now, go!" He scampered away at a pleasing speed. It would take him fifteen minutes to get down to the dungeons, he had left her on the sixth floor. She walked three doors down and went in with two minutes to the bell.

Later, when she went down for Herbology, she noticed with a smile that Ravenclaw had lost 120 points.

**EG**

At lunch, her homework long since finished, she pulled out writing materials and compiled a list.

Lucius Malfoy  
Igelbert Nott  
Arthur Weasley  
Percy Weasley  
Howard Zabini

'What are the problems with each? And what bargaining power do I have with each', she scrawled at the bottom of the page.  
'_May's well start at the bottom._'

Howard Zabini – no chance

'_Why not?  
_'_He doesn't want anything to do with me since the Battle. He even had Blaise transferred to Durmstrang, so as to have nothing to do with me.  
_'_Honestly, I'm surprised he's still in the country._'

"Watch ya doing?" asked Theodore, coming up behind her.

"Just some business, darling." He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"So, how come my father's name is down there?"

"I've told you before, I don't mix business and pleasure. So, which do you want to be?" She turned to face him and stood up, his arms still encircling her and kissed him, lightly, on the mouth. Sorrow flooded through her, when she felt neither the steam jet nor the burrowing she had come to associate with kisses. Elizabeth looked up at the staff table, but he was ignoring her. She turned her attention back to the boy in her arms.

"...definitely." She nodded absently, having only caught the very end of his answer, and sat down to get back to her list, which did not go down too well with Theo. "Liza," he moaned, causing his girlfriend to flinch, but she still ignored his plea for attention.

Percy Weasley – too much of a stickler

"We don't get that much free time, so could you possibly _not_ ignore me." She sighed, laid down her quill and rounded on him.

"As you aptly pointed out, I don't have a lot of free time and so I use it to keep my affairs in order. You'll have to do this once you become the head of your family. If you have a problem with the way I use my time, then take yourself out of the equation," she snapped, annoyed at being interrupted.

"Fine! I shall!" he returned hotly and walked away, purposefully slowly.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out, we don't want your thick head to dent it!" she called after him in a sing-song voice, so all the hall could hear. He turned a shocked countenance upon her.

"You really don't care, do you?" he asked in an astonished whisper that could still be heard by all in the deathly silence that followed her words.

"No, you were always only the rebound guy. I thought you knew that," she said simply. "Now... have you finished making a scene? Some of us have work to be getting on with," she said, her nose already once again buried in the list. He walked out of the hall, sympathy flowing out to him. People were horrified to see how cold and callous she was. There were a lot of rumours about what she had done during both the war and the final battle and those that had been long since disregarded, due to being thought inhumane, were now the main topic of conversation.

Arthur Weasley – not enough clout; he would be ignored

Igelbert Nott?...

'_He'll probably be too upset once he finds out about his son.  
_'_I doubt that, actually. Igelbert was pleased I chose his son, because then __**he**__ could claim allegiance to __**me**__, not the other way round. And now, that Theo and I are no longer an item, due to his actions, his father will be looking for some other way to keep me happy.  
_'_It sounds like he's the best choice, unless you think Lucius would be better?  
_'_No. Lucius is a more... high profile Death Eater._  
'_**Reformed **__Death____Eater._' She snorted, quietly, to herself.  
'_He's as reformed as I am!_' She reviewed her list yet again.

Lucius Malfoy – to obvious  
Igelbert Nott?...  
Arthur Weasley – not enough clout; he would be ignored  
Percy Weasley – too much of a stickler  
Howard Zabini – no chance

What are the problems with each? And what bargaining power do I have with each

She dashed off a letter to Igelbert, explaining what he was going to do for her and telling him about Theo.  
Elizabeth then wrote a letter warning Lucius. She did this, firstly, to rub his nose in the fact that her spies were better and, secondly, because he had always been her unofficial partner-in-crime and, as such, he deserved to know. She sealed both with her new ring.

**EG**

Elizabeth put the problem of Fudge and marriage out of her mind until dinner. Just as she was about to fill her plate, her papers already laid out, two owls descended on her. She removed the scrolls but offered neither of them any food, signalling that they should leave immediately. There was a letter from her contact at the Ministry and Lucius. She opened the one with the answer to her question, first:

EG,

At the present rate of deterioration, I would say, three weeks before it turns terminal.

Yours sincerely,  
MW

'Yours sincerely', had someone been passing at the time or had he been rumbled? That was a question she badly needed answering. So, she wrote a letter to her other Ministry contact:

Kiss,

I have had two letters from Mark Warner, today. He says, he is sick with a cough. Could you check in on him, please? Just make sure that he is not professionally compromised.

EG

Elizabeth then turned her attention to Lucius' letter, which had evidently been written at his desk, in complete security:

My darling Elizabeth,

It really has been too long since we saw each other last. I quite agree that it would have been unwise for you to come here, while you were under surveillance. But, perhaps now, we could persuade you to join us for dinner.  
As for the news you wrote to me about, I am delighted to inform you that I received a letter from the Ministry at the same time as I received yours. I presume you have already taken steps to prevent or, at the very least, avoid this latest madness of Fudge's.  
I have one or two books on marriage law and contracts, which you are welcome to review on your next visit.

Faithfully yours,  
Lucius

Elizabeth smiled fondly, it really had been too long since they had last seen each other. She would take him up on that invitation when next she was able. She chuckled at the sarcastic stress with which he would have pronounced that 'delighted'. She set about her reply with that fond smile still brightening her face.

Dearest Lucius,

I am so glad that you, unlike Zabini, have not deserted me. Fear not, I am not about to bore you with a rant about his disloyalty.  
However, I think your son has been a tad remiss in his reports; I am also taking my final year presently. So, unfortunately, I can not come to dinner at the drop of an invitation. I would, however, dearly love to see you and Narcissa soon. Maybe I could come to lunch next Hogsmeade weekend, only if that's convenient, of course.  
Your delight warms my heart! I did send Igelbert Nott a letter at the same time as I sent yours, but I have yet to get a reply.

Yours in bad faith,  
Elizabeth

She idly wondered, as she wandered back to the common room after dinner, how Lucius would classify her signing off. Did he even know the term 'in-joke'? Her musings were cut off by Malfoy's voice, Draco that is.

"I know, Pansy, but my father tells me that there is a new law coming in which means we can't. I'm really sorry." After a moment's hesitation, someone burst into noisy tears and ran away towards the Slytherin dorms.

"You know, I was actually hoping to get some sleep tonight," she said, stepping out of the shadows behind him, causing Draco to jump.

"You could always sleep in my bed," he said, mischievously.

"I'll hold you to that, if Evelyn and Syreena haven't managed to quiet her by ten. Oh, and before I forget, congratulations." He smiled and held out his arm, which she took.

"I really ought to thank you," he whispered, his mouth to her ear.

'_He's going to be wonderfully like Lucius, but without some of his worse traits, due to Narcissa's influence._'

"I merely informed an old friend about something I wanted his help with," she said, her eyes demurely cast to the floor.

"Oh, so it _was_ you who told him. Dad didn't actually say, but the hints that he dropped _did_ suggest it was you."

"So then, what are you so grateful for, if you don't mean helping you escape from that girl's clutches?" She was thoroughly enjoying the gentle, warm breeze that was blowing against her ear.

"Thank you, for giving the gossip mill so much to speculate about that they'll probably ignore me and Pansy." This caused Elizabeth to laugh, which started him off. At this point, they reached the blank bit of wall that disguised the entrance to Slytherin house.

"I remember, after the Yule Ball, I'd had rather too much alcohol and I must've tried at least three different stretches of wall before I got the right one."

"Ah, yes, that fateful night." – the wall melted and they could hear Pansy's sobbing – "It was the night She first thought I returned her infatuation and it's all your fault." He led her by the hand into the expansive common room.

"How is it my fault that you asked Her, after I'd turned you down?"

"You could've not turned me down, in the first place," he said, somewhat sulkily, and pulled her down beside him, onto the sofa.

"In hindsight, do you really think that would've been a good idea? I mean, He did castrate the three that I danced with and who were fetching me drinks. I wouldn't have put it past Marvolo to have killed my date."

"True," he sighed. "Why did you say 'Marvolo' and not 'Voldemort'?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Because it was Marvolo the jealous lover, who attacked those boys, not Voldemort the monster." She always pronounced his anagram in the French manner and flinched whenever someone added the hard 't' sound on the end.

"It's sad that, more than a year after his demise, He still dominates our conversations," Draco said in a world-weary tone.

"At least you'll be able to rid yourself of him in the long-run, I never will. He taught me everything – how to think, how to kiss, how to breathe, everything. Whatever I do, it always leads me back to Him." Tears were shaking her voice and so Draco pulled her in close to him, she laid her head on his shoulder.

"You were in love with him, it will just take you a bit longer for Him to fade. But I will always be here for you and so will my parents and the Notts, even Theo, once he gets over this little upset."

"Draco," she said, raising her head and looked at him solemnly. "Promise you'll never leave me; wherever I go and whatever I do in the future."

"I would follow you through the gates of Hades and Azkaban," he swore. Draco then leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth. To her surprise, she didn't miss the jet of steam and his button nose was just as good at burrowing.

" HER!!!" came the glass-shattering shriek from the door leading to the girls' dorms. "You dumped me for _THAT_!!!"

"Tell me, Pansy, did your mother never teach you to respect your elders and, especially, your betters?" Elizabeth drawled, after having detached her mouth from Draco's. "Claranne, you're neglecting your charge." The girl nodded and bundled Pansy off to bed.  
"You know, this is going to alter my reputation something chronic. People will stop thinking me inhumane and think I merely wanted you instead."

"You're not inhumane," he laughed. She automatically stiffened and pulled away, glaring at him.  
The girl he had been kissing was gone and in her place was the woman that Voldemort had loved. She was beautiful and cruel, there was no remorse nor mercy in her. This version of Elizabeth scared him and every other Death Eater, even Bellatrix. He was now sat with the woman who had impressed the Dark Lord so much that he had initiated her at 15 and she had gone straight to his Inner Circle.

"Are you sure about that, _boy_?!" she spat in a low hiss, a sneer distorting her usually lovely face.

"Elizabeth..." he started tentatively. She just looked down her nose at him as though he were something slimy on the sole of her shoe.  
Draco and his parents had once speculated as to what it would be like if she were the dark lord they were kow-towing to. They had resolved to never let that happen as that would see them joining forces with the twerps, because she could be ten times more ruthless than Riddle and she was always a hundred times smarter.  
"Elizabeth, I'm sorry, I was wrong. I was, however, merely under the mistaken impression that your inhumane streak had gone with our lord, Voldemort." She then collapsed into his arms, crying.

"You see what I mean? I can't even joke about the gossip mill without _Him_ effecting me." Draco kissed the top of her head, tenderly, and put his arms around her tightly. "What should I do?"

"I don't know, darling. But Severus probably would." The small frame in his arms stopped shaking with sobs as she froze.

"So would your dad," she said, sounding rather false. "I'll ask him when we go for lunch next Hogsmede weekend," she continued before he could argue.

"What do you mean, going for lunch?"

"Lucius gave me an open invitation to dinner, in his reply about the madness of Minister Fudge. I take it, you didn't tell him I was here as a student?" Elizabeth was now leaning back against him, rather than being curled up on his lap.

"How else would you be here?" Draco asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"You mean he didn't tell you?"

" Tell me what?" Suddenly, he realised he was acting like neither a Slytherin nor a Malfoy and changed tact. "Oh, you mean _That_. What is theee, um... status of that... _sit_uation?" Elizabeth laughed at him and then kissed him deeply.

"I'm not that gullible, but you will make your father and your ancestors proud one day."

**EG**

They spent the rest of the evening cuddling, kissing and doing homework. At eleven, Elizabeth went down to her dorm, however, without even opening the door, she could hear Pansy wailing. She went back to the common room and wrapped her arms around Draco's waist from behind.

"I suggest you go get a blanket, cushion and pyjamas; she's still making an absolute racket."

"You're going to make me sleep on the couch?" he said in a hurt tone, he was giving her a wonderfully heart-wrenching puppy-dog look.

"I don't trust you not to _do_ something."

"And what of my dorm-mates, they are decidedly less trust-worthy than I am."

"Maybe I _would_ be better on the couch. But, be a dear, and lend me bedding; I don't really fancy a nocturnal trip to the Hospital Wing due to Pansy having _attempted_ to hex me."

"Firstly," – he kissed her – "you would see her coming a mile off. And, secondly," – another kiss – "I would never forgive myself, if I let a lady sleep on a couch, when there is perfectly good bed at our disposal." He wrapped his arm around her waist. "Come on, we'll be nigh on useless tomorrow, if we don't get to sleep."

"So long as we do," she said, darkly.

"My word as a gentleman," he assured her, pulling her closer. She relaxed into him and they went to his dorm.  
He lent her a pair of black pyjamas, he then pulled on emerald green ones. The pair clambered into his green-draped four-poster and cuddled up.


	2. Lovers together

When Elizabeth woke up the next morning, she thought it was Severus' arms around her for one, golden moment.

"Good morning, my love," she murmured and opened her eyes to silvery hair, rather than the jet she had been expecting. "Draco!"  
She pushed herself away from him and out of the bed onto the cold flagstones. She stopped for a moment, staring at him in horror and then left the room at top speed.  
Her dorm was, blissfully, empty, when she went and got changed. Once she were clad in the school's uniform, skirt and all, Elizabeth returned to the common room with Draco's pyjamas folded over her arm.

"I'm sorry, Draco, I can't," she said, handing him the garments. She then exited into the corridors and turned left, which would lead her deeper into the bowels of the castle. She didn't stop until she reached an obsidian-encrusted, ebony door.

"Remember, remember!" she said in a pleading tone. It was the password she had set, but the heavy door remained unmoved. "Remember, remember!" she half-sobbed in desperation. When it still did not budge, she started hammering on the abrasive surface of the door. Several minutes, once her fist were raw, she put her back against the door and slid to the floor. "Severus!" she cried, forlornly.

On the other side of the black-hearted barrier, Severus was sat at his desk marking third-year essays and nursing a mug of coffee. When the intricate web of cast-iron vines and serpents, which was the locking mechanism that held the door in place, had started to uncurl, he had cast an immobilising charm on it. He did not want any visitors, especially none that knew the password.  
However, as hard as he tried to block it out, he still heard the banging and then his name being called. His heart clenched as he recognised the voice of his unexpected guest. He abandoned the essays and began to pace his study.

'_I can't! She's a student.  
_'_Yesterday, she dumped Nott in front of the whole school! And now, she's here; just on the other side of the door, crying for you!  
_'_She's still a student in my care.  
_'_You didn't have these reservations the night before the Battle of Hogwarts.  
_'_Then, we were Voldemort's lieutenants, equals apart from her extra __**services **__for him. Now, she should be rebuilding her life and forgetting all of us.  
_'_But she isn't; she's playing politics with Lucius. She's still the woman you let go at the end of the summer._'

Severus, however, woke out of his musings too late.

She had been sat with her back to Severus' door and crying, when Professor McGonagall appeared before her.

"What is the matter, Miss Havisham?" she asked in her usual, curt tone.

"I just needed a word with Professor Snape, professor." Elizabeth sounded unconvincing even to her ears, which was odd as she was normally a brilliant liar.

"What could you possibly have to say to _Professor_ Snape that couldn't wait until you see him later?" the older woman asked, shrewdly.

"OK," Elizabeth answered, sounding defeated which was worrying. "I wanted a word with Severus," she sighed and looked up tiredly at the Scottish witch.

"Why don't you come have breakfast with me? If Severus grows up, he can come and find you." This last she said loud enough to carry through the thick door, unfortunately Severus was too deep in thought to hear.

Once he was decided, he disappeared in to his bedroom, where he threw on his dark green, cashmere robe over the black suit trousers and shirt that he was already wearing. He strode over to the door and flung it wide, only to find that the corridor was empty.

"Blast!" he muttered, vehemently. "Please, no..." he whispered in fear of the thought which had just flashed into his mind. After a moment's indecision, he swept off in the direction of the Great Hall, still in his best dress robe. He was resolved to forget what had happened, unless she mentioned it, just in case it had not, in fact, happened outside of his imagination.

Elizabeth realised that she was nearly of a height with the headmistress as they swiftly made their way to the Great Hall. When they entered the hall, Elizabeth started for the Slytherin, but McGonagall threw her arm around her shoulders and purposefully led her to the top table. Once there, the ex-Transfiguration teacher waved the present-day courtier into the chair to the left of the throne. Even though Elizabeth was unaware of the fact, she was sat in Severus' seat.

"So, what is wrong between you and our boy, Sev?" asked the headmistress, piling bacon and toast onto the Slytherin's plate. The 19-year-old looked at the elder in amazement. "Did you really think that only those you _told_ knew?" Elizabeth sighed and brushed aside the grilled tomatoes that the headmistress was trying to force on her.

"We decided to split up at the end of the summer, so as not to violate student-teacher protocol." Elizabeth was a convincing liar, when she put all her effort to it. McGonagall, however, saw right through this and indicated as much by arching her eyebrow at the ex-double agent. "OK, _he_ decided we ought to split up." The Scot nodded and sighed, while Elizabeth started to get food down her innards.

"He does have a tendency to deny himself that which he wants and needs most."  
Just then the over-grown bat himself swept in through the side door, but he stopped dead when he saw the woman in his seat.

"Ah," was all he was able to utter.

"Morning, Sev," chirped Headmistress McGonagall. "Aren't you going to join us for breakfast?" Her eye held an all-to-familiar twinkle as she waved him to the seat on Elizabeth's other side. The Potions Master acquiesced and sat by the woman he had tried to distance himself from.

"I take it, considering your current position, you _were_ outside my door earlier?"

"Ah, so you were ignoring me," she said, sadly. Under the cover of the table, he took her hand, which caused her to look up at him in surprise.

"I'm sorry, I truly am. I was wrong, you were right, I should have let my heart guide me just this once." She laughed, causing heads to turn at the Slytherin table.

"Don't remind me what I said that night, I said a lot of things I didn't mean and many more that you didn't want or weren't ready to hear."

"But I should still have granted you the courtesy of listening."

"So should have a lot of people in my past, at least you lived to apologise for it," she said, darkly, and took her hand back, so she could eat more of her breakfast. After a few minutes' frantic scoffing, Severus' silky tones filtered into her mind.

"Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about earlier?" To a practised ear, like Elizabeth or Minerva, he sounded uncomfortable.

"I'm losing it, Severus," she murmured, so McGonagall was unable to hear, tears were threatening to overcome her again. "I was joking with Draco last night about the Hogwarts gossip mill and I slipped back into the woman He loved." He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Come to my rooms half an hour after I leave breakfast," he muttered in her ear and she nodded, before turning to talk to the headmistress about the Wizengamot's ruling on the Caverly case.

**EG**

An hour and a half later, Elizabeth was once again stood outside the solid black door.

"Remember, remember," she enunciated. The door swung open towards her and she paced in, acting the queen like she did everywhere else. As soon as the door was shut, whatever had been keeping her erect deserted her and she collapsed in a heap to the floor. When Severus walked in five minutes later, his nose in his notes on safely concentrating the Draught of Living Peace, he found her still flat on the floor with her feet under her.

"Elizabeth," he gasped, dropping his precious notes and rushing to her. Severus scooped her up in his arms and sat on the couch, Elizabeth on his lap. "What's wrong, Beth?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"I'm crumbling and that... demon is starting to take me over again," she moaned, her mouth pressed against his neck.

"It's OK, we'll get through it." He stroked her hair and kissed her everywhere from her collarbone up. "_Girl_, you always know that it's us against the world." She raised her head as he continued soothing her and smiled at him, love pouring out to him.

"I have missed you, so much. It's been so hard; seeing you, every day, everywhere I go, every time I turn around." She kissed him and he kissed her back just as fiercely.

"I'm sorry. I've missed you too. Every day I've had to fight the urge to come and carry you in here. Then you came to me and I snapped. We'll move your stuff back in here today?" he sounded, heart-meltingly hopeful and so she did melt in to him.

"I see we're throwing teacher-student protocol out the window completely."

"Of course. I'm not going to push you out again. I couldn't live with doing that ever again."

"Good," she murmured, before sinking into his arms entirely.  
After several fulfilled minutes, they surfaced and then uncurled from the sofa. Once they'd stretched, they left for the seventh year girls' dorm-room.

**EG**

Elizabeth opened the dorm door, Severus' arm around her waist. They were laughing as the door swung inwards to admit them.

"You WHORE!!! You stole my Draco and now _SNAPE_ too?!?!" Pansy shrieked, the moment she saw them.

"Oh, please, stop. You're giving me a headache. Besides, I broke up with Theo because he didn't know his place, unlike Draco. Young Mr Malfoy knows I am his superior. And Draco dropped you because of a new law and because you have become an embarrassment to him and the old families as a whole." Elizabeth may not have been raised to this life, but she had acquired an air of superiority that suited her only too well.

"An embarrassment? How did you work that one out? Asked _Marvolo_?" sneered Pansy.

"How dare you even utter his name?" said Elizabeth, her voice dangerously low. "You have made an embarrassment of yourself by trailing after Draco as if you were his spaniel." – Severus chuckled at the reference – "Did you not understand your duty to him and the families? You were to marry him, bear him an heir and play hostess whenever he entertained. You were NOT to _fall in love_ with him. If he wanted to take his pleasure, it would not be with _you._" Elizabeth's sneer was firmly back in place. "I believe Mr Warrington is in need of a wife," she said as her things packed themselves into her trunk.

"Warrington?" quavered Pansy, in fear. Her fear was well placed, everyone knew that he had killed his last two wives. "Surely not even _you_ or Draco's father would be that cruel?"

"It is, now, up to _your_ father alone to decide your... fate," she spat at the girl. "And I wish him luck!"

"Why do you say it like that?"Pansy asked, anxiously, as Elizabeth and Severus were about to leave.

"Because Lucius and I have denounced you to the families for what you are and they are extremely unlikely to turn against we who are in power. So, getting you married could very well be regarded as an impossible dream." Elizabeth and Severus laughed and she opened the door, sent her truck out ahead and then left with Severus' arm around her waist.

When they reached the common room, Draco came up to Elizabeth and pulled her into a tight hug.

"You have no idea how happy I am for both of you. My father and I have been wondering how long it would take you to, finally, bring him to his senses."

"When you say 'wondering', you mean 'betting', don't you?" she smirked up at him, drawing back just enough to look him in the face.

"All right, yeah. But he won," said Draco in a rush, before she got the impression that he was only pleased to see them together because of the bet. Elizabeth laughed, before kissing him on the cheek.

"Pass my compliments along with your father's winnings." She laughed again, she seemed to be full of joy today. "Oh, and I dealt with the banshee."

"Thanks," Draco laughed. "And I will. Now, go on with the pair of you."

"Thank you," said Severus, grabbing Elizabeth into him and wandered into his quarters with her.

**EG**

Several hours later, they had finished arranging her things to their mutual satisfaction and had spent a couple of hours getting back into the swing of things.

"Now, I would suggest going to lunch or people are going to cast aspersions on your virtue."

"_All_ right," moaned Elizabeth, setting down her book and stretching, narrowly missing Severus' face.

"Oi!" he exclaimed in consternation and then started tickling her mercilessly.

"Hey! Hey!" she laughed, trying to fight her way out from under him, several minutes later. "What were you say about my, _precious_, virtue?"

"Yeah, you're right," he sighed and pushed himself up off of her. "We wouldn't anyone thinking you're not a virgin any more." He held out a hand to help her up off of the sofa.

"Of course, don't want to give them the wrong impression," she said, sardonically, heaving herself to her feet by means of his hand.

"No need to be like that, we're going to do this properly this time," he said, quietly, spinning her in close to him.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Just like 'Love Actually'. You know I appreciate it, don't you?" she whispered into his shoulder.

"And _you_ know I love you, don't you?"

"Yes, and thank you. You and your love has saved me."

"Come on, you," he said and pulled her out into the corridor with him. They walked to the bottom of the steps that lead up into the Entrance Hall with his arms encircling her. They separated before going up into the throngs.


	3. Looking back

**A/N: I had re-upload this chapter as it had somehow been over-written by chapter 2. Sorry to anyone who found this story when this chapter was missing.**

The next morning, at breakfast, Elizabeth was organising her affairs, as usual, when a sleek Eagle Owl swept down towards her. Theo watched the bird's progress through narrowed eyes. She relieved the owl of the scroll and it then flew on to Theo, who was left to open the Howler.

"How stupid are you?" screeched Desdemona Nott's voice from the red envelope. "She is the most respected member of the magical community." – Elizabeth blushed – "We thought you had more tact than to insult her in front of _the whole school_." It carried on in its tirade for several more minutes, but she was more interested in her letter from the Notts.

Dear Lady Gaunt,

My wife and I apologise profusely for the great insult you received from our son.  
I also apologise for not having responded earlier, but we had the Minister to dinner last night. I thought it would be of more use to actually follow your instructions and then report as to any success, rather than writing to you twice.  
As to that success, I managed to persuade him to raise the subject and then proceeded to point out how damaging this would be to his support among the pureblood families. Unfortunately, he still believes that it is 'nesseccary'. He did mention that it was based on a study carried out by some healers. I believe the names were Clay and Pye.  
My apologies, once again, and my hope that this matter is resolved quickly, but without any blood needing to be spilt.

Yours faithfully,  
Igelbert Nott, Esq.

'_My, my, what a nice, but disappointing, letter,_' were her first, semi-sarcastic, thoughts. '_Clay and Pye... Pye? Pye? Why do I know that name?_'

"Ronald Billius Weasley, it is _not_ funny," began Hermione, starting in on one of her famous rants.

'_Weasley! Pye's Arthur Weasley's mate.  
_'_Flip! And double FLIP!_' Elizabeth then had a flash of inspiration.  
'_What's his boss's name? ... _**_Smethwyk!_****'**

**She wrote a letter to Healer Smethwyk asking for a copy of Clay and Pye's study. Another letter to Lucius followed from her pen.  
Severus then caught her eye, but she just went back to her papers, after having dispatched the letters with a house elf.**

**EG**

**"****Desdemona always was a very flattering woman," remarked Severus, that evening after class. Elizabeth just continued to ignore him, he had been trying to discover from her all day what the Notts had been writing to her about. She was busy doing her Arithmancy homework.**

**"****Neptune's orbital," she murmured. "Its position times its orbit divided by the difference between its and Earth's distances from the Sun, ****equaaaals****... 113.219. So, if we times that by its satellites..."**

**"****Roughly 906."**

**"****How do you do that?" his lover asked in annoyance, after she had worked it out to be 905.752.**

**"****It's a gift, kinda like Desdemona Nott when she's telling her son off for getting himself dumped****–****"**

**"****Will you cut it out already!" she growled through gritted teeth. "Honestly! You're worse than Goyle!" He got up from his seat on the sofa and came up behind her.**

**"****You mean, cruel, insulting, heartless..." After each of the four adjectives, he tickled her.**

**"****That's not true," she squealed and tried to catch her breath. "I am most certainly not heartless." To prove her point, Elizabeth placed his hand over where her heart was.**

**"****Cheat!" he hissed in her ear. Then he set about kissing her neck, from just behind her left ear down to her collar-bone.**

**"****If ****_I'm_**** cheating by using all of my natural advantages, then what ****d'ya**** call that?" As if in answer, Severus kissed the hollow at the base of her throat. However, he was unprepared for her reaction of leaping back from him, knocking the chair over and crouching low, ready to strike. "Don't ever dare do that again," she hissed, however, it was not her voice but His.  
It took her more than a minute to realise how she was standing and, when she did, she collapsed to the floor in a heap. Severus sat down beside her and gathered her up onto his lap.**

**"****I seem to be doing this a lot, lately. ****Ich liebe dich,****" she murmured, before kissing him.**

**"****I love you, too," he said and kissed her back.**

**"****How long have you loved me?" she asked with a teasing tone to her voice.**

**"****Forever."**

**"****What? Since we first met?"**

**"****Are we talking about when I first met Miss Elizabeth Havisham or Lady Elizabeth Gaunt? I meant the latter."**

**"****Do you remember when we met for the ****_very _****first time?"**

**"****How could I forget?" he drawled in an exasperated voice.**

Flashback

**'****_It was a bright winter's day and I was about to go out to the toddler group that I helped out at, when the doorbell went._**

**"****_I'll get it!" I called to my mum. I opened the door to find a slim and dark-haired man dressed in black jeans and a dark green shirt with a black velvet frock coat over the top. "Oh, hello. How can I help you?"_**

**"****_I'm looking for Mr, Mrs and Miss Havisham?" he said, politely._**

**"****_I'm Elizabeth Havisham. My mum's in the office and Dad's in his workshop. Would you care to come in...?" I let the invitation trail off, but stepped aside to allow him in._**

**"****_Professor Snape and thank you." He came in and I showed him into the lounge, before going and fetching my parents._**

**"****_Tea or coffee?" my mum offered, while still lingering in the doorway._**

**"****_A black coffee, please."_**

**"****_Of course. Michael?"_**

**"****_Tea, please, darling."_**

**"****_What would you like, Mum?" I put in, before SHE disappeared into the family room._**

**"****_I'll have a coffee, too. Thanks, love," she said and pecked me on the cheek. I went through to the kitchen area of the family room and put the kettle on._**

**"****_Now, what did you want to talk to us about?" I heard my dad ask from the front room._**

**"****_I would rather wait until your daughter returns," replied the stranger.  
I drowned a tea bag for Dad and then filled up the _****_cafetière_****_. Once the tea had stewed, I added milk and sugar and then carried three cups, one with milk in the bottom, through to the sitting room. I went back for the _****_cafetière_****_ and the cup of tea. I poured the professor's coffee, then Mum's and mine.  
"Thank you."_**

**"****_Will you, please, tell us what this is about, now?" asked my mum._**

**"****_I teach at a school called Hogwarts. Its students are peculiarly talented, that is to say they all have the same, specific talent."_**

**"****_Yes, some of us do understand the English language," I said, growing tired of his patronising words._**

**"****_I _****__****do ****_apologise. As I was saying, I teach young people, who all have this particular talent. Your daughter also possess this talent, and so, I am here to invite her to attend Hogwarts. Her education was provided for, so you need not worry about tuition fees."_**

**"****_Who would have provided for my education?" I asked, frowning hard at him._**

**"****_Oh, I see, you haven't told her," he said, rather uncomfortably._**

**"****_Told me what, exactly?" I asked, starting to get upset, my parents had never kept anything but good surprises from me._**

**"****_Honey..." said my dad in a placatory tone._**

**"****_We didn't want to tell you, but it seems we must," Mum said, uncomfortably._**

**"****_What? Tell me, what?" I moaned._**

**"****_There's no easy way of telling you this, _****_buuuut_****_... You're adopted," explained my dad._**

**"****_What?" I leapt out of my seat from beside my mum on the couch and inadvertently landed in front of the stranger's seat._**

**"****_I'm sorry, darling, it's true. We weren't able to have our own, so we adopted you," said Dad, in an attempt at a soothing tone. I stumbled involuntarily backwards out of shock and the professor caught me. Unfortunately, I just kept going and landed on his lap._**

**"****_Sorry, sir," I said, uncomfortably and went to get up._**

**"****_That is quite all right," he said, so I just collapsed under the shock._**

**"****_But what is this talent you've been talking about?" my adoptive mother asked, trying to change the subject and quickly._**

**"****_To put it simply, your daughter is a witch," he said, matter-of-factly, and removed his hands from my waist. Both of my adoptive, Christian parents looked aghast at the idea that their precious daughter was a witch._**

**"****_I'm not their daughter," I muttered viciously. If I had thought they looked shocked and horrified before, it was nothing to how they were staring at me, now. I stood up and turned to go upstairs to pack. I paused at the doorway and looked back at the teacher. "I shall come to your school, just give meee... 40 minutes? to pack."_**

**"****_Allow me to assist you," he said, rising and I led him up to my bedroom. Professor Snape removed a miniature, old-fashioned trunk from his pocket, which he enlarged. Then he flicked his wand and my things started to pack themselves._**

**"****_Why are you walking away? They love you," he said, simply._**

**"****_They lied to me. Explained away all of the strange things I've done. They denied me the right to know who I am." He nodded. Just then, the trunk finished packing itself and the professor shrunk it back down, despite my fears, so that it fitted in his pocket again. We went back downstairs my parents_****_–_****_ my _****__****adoptive****_ parents were standing in the hallway._**

**"****_Oh, darling," said my ex-mother, launching herself at me._**

**"****_Goodbye, Mum, Dad," I said, still angry at them._**

**"****_Are you ready to go, Miss Havisham?" asked Professor Snape, walking past the people who had claimed to be my parents and opening the front door, ready for me._**

**"****_Of course, sir," I said, walking past him and them and out into the warm late-August air.'_**

Flashback

"You were insufferable! Did you really hate them then?" he asked, out of interest.

"I still do," she said, simply, laying her head back against his shoulder.

"Why? Besides, I thought you were meant to forgive them."

"That's _their_ religion. Why should I follow a God that permits his people to preach that lying is wrong but make their 'daughter''s whole life a lie?"

"You still sound like a Christian to my ears," he said, gently, wrapping his arms around just in case she tried to hurt him.

"Yeah..." she sighed. "It wasn't him that let me down, but..."

"But, what?"

"Nothing!" Elizabeth disentangled herself from him and stood. "I need to get back to that essay," she said and went back to her desk.

"Elizabeth," Severus sighed, getting up and coming up beside her. "I love you dearly and hurts me to know you're keeping things from me."

"Get used to it!" she spat. "You should've learned that I always have secrets." She bent her head towards her homework, her hair falling forwards so that he was unable to see her face. To her great surprise, he pulled her from her seat and pushed her up against the wall, so that she was forced to look into his eyes.

"I'm not _him_," he spat with venomous passion. "If you think of me the way you thought of him, tell me! And we can end this right here and now!" They were so close that her tears landed on his face.

"I'm sorry, Severus. You know how long and difficult it was for me to truly trust anyone after their betrayal and then I became his and I couldn't trust him. I'm not sure I remember how to build trust. I think, the only person I truly trust now is the one who I first trusted, after I started school."

"And that would be?" growled Severus, but it was fear, not anger, in his eyes.

"Lucius," she sighed, turning her head aside in anticipation of his fury. However, he just laughed.

"You trust that two-faced snake-in-the-grass?" he asked in surprise, but with a fond tone.

"Yeah. He took me in that summer after my first year and helped me sort out my real parents' estate."

"OK, at least there's someone. But please, Elizabeth, try and trust me."

"Alright. Here." She reached down to the desk and grabbed the Nott letter and the others on the same subject. "They're in order."

"You do know, I wasn't trying to get these, I just want you to trust me with what's important to you."

"I know, that's why you should read those."

"Thank you," he said and they each sat down; her to her essay, him to her letters.


	4. More Letters

At dinner, the following day, an owl swooped down on Elizabeth, it was heavily laden with a large scroll.

"Ah, good!" she smiled as she detached the study and covering letter.

Dear Miss Havisham,

I was greatly honoured to receive your letter. I have enclosed the desired document, but I feel obliged to warn you that it is a very tedious read. Also, it is not to be taken as fact, it is purely a theory based on insufficient data, as I told the Minister when he asked my opinion.  
If you require any further assistance, do not hesitate to write, I am at your disposal.

Yours sincerely,  
G. Smethwyk  
Head of Dai Llewellyn Ward

'_Ah, so Fudge asked his opinion, too._

'_It might be worth taking him on as one of my associates.  
_'_Let's wait to see how useful he proves.  
_'_True_,' she thought and then returned her attention to the conversation that was happening around her.

"So, yeah, she had us up _all_ night! Couldn't you 'ave...? Oh, I don't know! Dumped her differently? Just so she had allowed us _some_ sleep. I'm shattered!" complained Serena.

"My deepest apologies, Miss Sevurn. If I had known it would cause you such discomfort–"

"You would've done it anyway," Serena cut him off and he nodded.

"But I would have apologised beforehand. If there is _anything_ I can do to make it up to you, please let me know."

"We-eell..." she said with a grin. "There is always the Halloween Masque Ball." Elizabeth groaned and mimed banging her head on the table.

"Don't remind me, I have yet to start on the decorations and all. Only the music and refreshments have been dealt with so far. I think, I need to kidnap Hermione."

"We tried that, Potter rescued her from under the noses of six senior Death Eaters. Why would he want a filthy mudblood like that!" spat Crabbe, who had gained prejudice but neither brains nor tact in the last year. A quick flick of Elizabeth's wand later, he was hurtling through the air, over the students' heads, before crashing in to the far wall.

"Miss Havisham!" yelled Minerva in a shocked voice.

"I was merely disciplining him, headmistress."

"And what had he done?" enquired Sinistra.

"He used a derogatory term in relation to our _esteemed_ head girl."

"Mister Crabbe, detention," snapped Severus, shortly. The whole staff table and most of the students looked at him astounded. Elizabeth, however, just smiled gratefully at him and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Mister Reynolds, Miss Washbourne, help Mister Crabbe to the hospital wing," Minerva instructed.

"Anyway," Elizabeth said, quickly pulling a veil over what had just happened and standing. "I am going to go talk to Hermione. I'm going to be a while, don't wait for me." She grabbed her bag and sauntered over to the Gryffindor table, where Hermione was sat with the other two members of the Golden Trio, their girlfriends and Neville. "Hey, Hermione. I don't know 'bout you, but I'm starting to panic about the arrangements for the Halloween Masque."

"Oh my!" gasped the petite lioness. "I've been so busy, I had _completely_ forgotten that we needed to do that." She turned to her friends. "We're gonna be a while, I'll see you later." Hermione picked up her bag, turned back to the Slytherin queen and followed her out. "Where are we headed?"

"I seconded a spare office. McGonagall said we would be fine to leave our papers spread out."

It took them seven minutes to reach their office, which was three doors down from the Hospital Wing. As they passed Madame Pomfrey's domain, they heard Crabbe's wailing and then his two escorts came out.

"Nice one!" grinned Malcolm.

"Those blistering sores look _really_ painful," added Zoe, gleefully. Elizabeth just grinned and the pair headed off to Gryffindor tower.  
Once Elizabeth had given the password, "double, double, toil and trouble", and they had entered the room, Hermione turned on her slippery friend with her hands on her hips, as though she was about to lecture her.

"So, what have you done already?" The pair burst out laughing and sat themselves comfortably in the chairs behind their respective desks.

"Well, I've arranged for both the Weird Sisters and the Canterbury Strings to play. I thought, we could have the string quartet on while people are dining and then have the band for the dancing."

"Yeah, that sounds good, but I think we're also gonna want one or two formal dances. Like, maybe, we have the quartet start us off with a waltz for you, me, McGonagall and the heads of house plus our partners. Of course, that would mean persuading Professor Snape to both attend _and_ dance," she mused.

"Oh, I think I can guarantee he'll be there and dancing." Hermione frowned at her. "Alright, I'll tell you, but don't you _dare_ repeat this. When we were both double agents, we were lovers." The Gryffindor's eyes popped from her skull and her mouth dropped open, but then she frowned at Elizabeth. "Yes, I know, it's inconceivable that Severus could feel that way about anyone–"

"Not inconceivable, just surprising. Besides, I thought you were in that sort of a relationship with Voldemort?"

"I was, as well. But with Marvolo, mostly it was because of needing that sort of power over him for the Order's sake. Besides, I got tired of mothering him. I know, it's shocking, but he 'who wanted to dominate the world' wanted me to take the lead in the bedroom.  
"One night Severus and I were alone, this was when I was staying at his place, and I just broke down. He just held me and, once I'd finished crying and pouring out my soul, I kissed him, he kissed me back and somehow we woke the next morning in his bed. I was so embarrassed, I felt like I'd used him, because I was, of course, going to go back to Marvolo. But he just pulled me back to him and took me. I know, it sounds vulgar, but it was so liberating.  
"However, him with his 'holier than holy' attitude decided that we shouldn't have that sort of a relationship with me back as his student. So, he ended it before school started and it's been torture. But, you know yesterday when I was at the top table for breakfast?" - Hermione nodded - "Well, that was because Minerva found me crying outside Severus' door and insisted I joined her for breakfast. He and I made up and I've moved into the spare bedroom in his quarters. We're doing things properly this time," Elizabeth finished with a soft smile, realising that she had lied to Severus last night; Lucius was not the only one she trusted, she trusted Hermione too.

"You are _so_ lucky!" sighed the Head Girl. "I just wish he would notice me."

"You mean, you haven't seen him staring at you wistfully?"

"What?!"

"He does. At some point during every meal or lesson, I've caught him gazing at you. Then again, it isn't explicit. I only noticed because I'm used to seeing him looking at you like that from my time at Grimmauld Place." Hermione's jaw dropped, again, and then, she slowly raised herself from her chair.

"Would you excuse me? I've got a rather pressing..." She walked away, still dazed.

"Of course! Good luck!" Elizabeth called after her friend.

'_This still leaves you with the problem of organising the masque.  
_'_That can wait.  
_'_Besides, I still need to read that study.  
_'_True_.' So, she pulled the heavy scroll from her bag and rolled it out on her desk.

_**Excerpt**_

In this study, we aim to examine the claim that continued  
inter-breeding of the remaining pure-blooded families means  
an increase in the numbers of squibs. To form a decisive  
conclusion on this subject, we will analyse the magical  
abilities of all children born to pure-blooded parents  
in the last five years.

To begin, we must explain a few terms. Firstly, a pure-blooded  
individual is considered, by the authors of this study, as one  
whose ancestors all had magical abilities for the three  
generations proceeding the individual's birth. Secondly, a squib  
is defined as a person without magical abilities born to parents  
with magical abilities.

In 1992, it was found that, of the fifty babies born to pure-  
blooded parents, none of them showed a lack of magic. However,  
when the forty-eight remaining children were tested at the age  
of three, it was found that two of that number were unable to  
perform any magic.

_**Excerpt**_

The study continued in this vein for quite a few pages, concluding with how this proved that the gene pool needed to be increased if the magic gene were to be passed on. Elizabeth decided that she did not want to be trawling through this multiple times and so listed the useful data.

1992 – 50 born, 0 squibs at birth, 48 survived to three, 2 squibs at three  
1993 – 65 born, 3 squibs at birth, 57 survived to three, 0 squibs at three  
1994 – 42 born, 2 squibs at birth, 42 survived to three, 2 squibs at three  
1995 – 56 born, 5 squibs at birth, 48 survived to three, 6 squibs at three  
1996 – 39 born, 4 squibs at birth, 36 survived to three, 8 squibs at three

It did look damning, but Smethwyk was right, there was not enough data. They would need to look further back and at the rate of squibs born from different couplings of muggle/magic and the rate among the children of muggleborns who had married each other. In fact, from the data before her, Elizabeth could not help but wonder if Fudge had been planning this for a while and had specially commissioned this study. She pulled a fresh sheet of parchment towards her and wrote:

Dear Healer Smethwyk,

Thank you for responding so promptly and for your generous offer of assistance. I am writing to you to avail myself of that offer. I have read the report and found it very intriguing. However, I was wondering when the authors began researching it. I only ask because it seems somewhat rushed.

Yours sincerely,  
Elizabeth Havisham

She sealed it and was about to take it to the owlery when the door opened.

"I have just seen the loveliest sight of my life, apart from your face," said Severus as he came over to where she was sitting.

"Oh? What was that?"

"The wonderful Miss Granger and our very own Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. It reminded me so very much of the way we are flouting teacher-student protocol." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"I may have mentioned something about him gazing devotedly at her here and at headquarters," she said, innocently, avoiding her love's eye.

"I'm glad. Lupin looked the happiest I've seen him," he laughed, conjuring a chair beside hers. "So, what are you doing?"

"I've been reading this," she said, handing him the study. "And I've got a couple of letters to write."

"Don't you always!" he chuckled, but set about reading the report, once she stuck her tongue out at him.

To my darling Lucius,

When I wrote to you yesterday, I mentioned a study carried out by Clay and Pye and that I had requested a copy from Pye's boss, Smethwyk. Well, today, I received it. I am not so cruel as to expect you to read the whole thing and am including a summary of the data and my thoughts on the study.  
I can't wait to see you next weekend. I presume you are comfortable with Severus coming as you haven't written back saying otherwise.

All my love,  
Elizabeth

Elizabeth inserted the list of data with her suggestions for what more should have been included, sealed that letter, laid it by the first and pulled another sheet of parchment towards her, but was interrupted before she could start on the letter to the elder Nott.

"Uh, darling?" said Severus, frowning, from beside.

"Yes?"

"This is the document that the Minister is basing this legislation upon?"

"Yes."

"But this study is far from complete. It only looks at pureblood births and only for the last five years, that is insufficient."

"Precisely. I think Fudge commissioned it, so that he could bring in this legislation," she explained.

"Sounds plausible. In fact, that sounds very likely. Especially considering the departments these two work in."

"Why? Where does Augustus Clay work?"

"Ah," he said with an evil grin, he loved beating her at her own game.

"Stop gloating and just tell me," she said in affectionate irritation.

"Only if you come over here."

"If I must," she mock-groaned and slipped from her chair and onto his lap.

"Augustus Clay works in the memory restorative ward." She frowned and then a light bulb switched on over her head as her face cleared.

"So, they both worked with you after that bite you got from Nagini," she mused, frowning in concentration. "You do know I'm sorry about that, I did try to stop him, but he wasn't hearing anything but the call of the El–" He silenced her with a kiss and she dove into the mindless abyss, but they were interrupted by a tapping on the window. Reluctantly, she pushed herself off of him and went to the window, then she recognised the Scops Owl. She took the letter and offered the exhausted thing some owl treats, which it ate happily.

EG,

Mark Warner has died of that cough. I am sorry to have to give you such news. His wife and children will suffer greatly now that he is gone.

Your faithful servant,  
Kiss

"Blast!" she muttered, bitterly, before scribbling a note on the back saying that her ex-MW should be assigned to the _Prophet_.

"Who's it from, darling?" Severus asked, coming over and putting his arms around her.

"Shaklebolt. You remember Alex Williams?" He nodded, so she continued. "Well, Fudge found him out and has gotten him dismissed. I've told Kingsley to have him hired at the seer." Severus nodded, before walking her back to her seat.

"Who are you writing to now?" he enquired as she set about the letter to Igelbert.

"Nott."

"Are," he teased and she scowled at him, so he sank down in his chair.


	5. Memories

"Ah, Miss Havisham. Welcome to my home, I do hope you enjoy your stay with us."

"Thank you, Mister Malfoy. It is very kind of you to have me for the summer."

"Not at all. And please, call me Lucius."

"Well, thank you, Lucius. And I insist that you call me Elizabeth," she said with a smile.

"Having any trouble, Miss Havisham?"

"Uh, no, Mis– _Lucius_. Oh and it's not 'Miss Havisham'."

"My apologies, _Elizabeth_."

"That's not what I meant." He frowned at her quizzically. "My real name is Elizabeth Helena Gaunt." His frown deepened.

"Gaunt? As in Marvolo Gaunt?"

"Yes. Well, Morphin Gaunt to be precise. According to Professor Snape, Morphin 'attacked' a Mudblood from the local village. Her son, once told of his routes before attending Hogwarts, assumed his father's name. After completing his education, Rupert Gaunt married Alicia Prewet, a pureblood. They didn't agree with Voldemort's view of the world, and were also not aware of the connection, and went into hiding in the muggle world shortly before my birth. They were killed in some muggle catastrophe and I was adopted by a pair of Muggles who gave me the name Havisham." She sighed. "I detest both sets of my parents. The first for abandoning me in the muggle world and the latter for denying me the right to know who I am."

"Elizabeth."

"Yes, Lucius?" she asked, raising her head to show that she was listening, but not quite tearing her eyes away from the page before her.

"Uh, I have some... um... _unfortunate_ news." She looked up with a frown, she had never heard Mister Malfoy so uncomfortable nor had she ever known him to trip over his words.

"What is it?"

"The, ah, Dark Lord has heard about you." After his initial hesitation, the rest came in a rush.

"Oh, really?" she said, leaning back with a smirk tugging the left corner of her mouth up. "I don't see the problem. Why _are_ you so worried?"

"You're not yet 16– Aren't I allowed to be worried?" he asked, coming to stand next to her chair.

"Of course, you are," she smiled, taking his hands in hers and smiling up at him. He smiled back at her, but there was a look of concern in his eyes.

"Have you brought her?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Stand forth Miss _Gaunt_." The very young woman stepped into the centre of the circle. She was dressed in long, flowing black robes that left her pale arms exposed. "Ah, yes," he hissed.  
"I have heard much of you. Star pupil, extraordinary dueller, excellent flyer, gifted Occlumens..." he let the sentence trail off as he circled her, surveying her. Elizabeth hoped he was not probing her mind or he would see how much his source had exaggerated her abilities.  
"Now, Miss Gaunt, are you ready to join my ranks?" A smirk tugged at her mouth as she answered:

"Yes, my lord." She swept him a deep bow and remained on her knees before him. He took hold of her left arm and pulled his yew wand from within his robes.

"Do you solemnly swear to follow my orders, even if they lead you to certain death?"

"I do."

"Will you conform to the ideals of the group and uphold them until your life's end?"

"I will."

"Are you confident in purpose and strong in resolve? Are you ready to take any responsibility I accord you?"

"I am." Once she had responded that final time, he placed his wand to her arm and the living tattoo appeared.

"Welcome, my cousin." He raised her to her feet and kissed her on the cheek.

"My dear," whispered Zabini. "The Dark Lord wishes to see you immediately. In his private chambers." She made her way along the labyrinthine passages and knocked on the door. It swung open, seemingly of its own accord, and she entered.

"Elizabeth. Just the person I wanted to see." She came towards where he was sat on a sofa and he indicated that she should sit beside him. "As we are all painfully aware, Lucius failed abysmally at the ministry. I only hope you can do a better job in his place." And without any warning, he leaned in and kissed her deeply.

"Lucius. So glad to see you with us again and so kind of you to host us in your charming manor," Elizabeth purred from her position on Voldemort's lap.

"M-my pleasure, Lady Gaunt. I do hope you enjoy your stay with us." Suddenly, Elizabeth was twelve again and she had arrived at this house for the first time, so thankful that she would not be forced to return to her adoptive parents.

"I'm sure we will," she smirked, stroking Voldemort's chest.

"Draco. You failed me," said the Dark Lord in a tone that held too much pleasure for either of the spies' comforts. The only time that tone of voice was genuine, and safe, was when it was used towards Elizabeth or Bella. However, Narcissa barged in before Draco could react, never mind respond.

"Please, my lord! Spare my son!"

"Narcissa, tell me, what service have you ever done me? Elizabeth serves me unswervingly, yet she would not degrade herself so as to beg for her child. Would you, my dear?" The contempt in his voice as he spoke to Narcissa was clearly audible, but so was the loving tenderness when he addressed Elizabeth, however twisted it seemed.

"I wouldn't have to, my son would be loyal to his father," she said, her voice a lazy, salacious drawl, but her eyes were alight with something indiscernible.

"Have you anything to report, Severus?"

"Only the usual, my lord," the spy replied. The Dark Lord gave the man a long, hard look, before turning to his lover. But before he could comment, his servant spoke again. "Except, of course, that they are moving Potter next week." Elizabeth laughed, uproariously, it seemed to Severus that she was trying to cover something awkward.

"Honestly, Severus, you are absolutely dreadful!" She was looking her fellow double-agent straight in the eye with something more akin to worry than joy. "We can finally get him." There was a disconcerting undercurrent of macabre pleasure in her voice as she spoke of Potter.

"Yes, my dear," said Voldemort with satisfaction.

"Lady Gaunt."

"Yes," she snapped, irritably.

"It's the Dark Lord, ma'am."

"Yes?" she asked, her voice softened by concern.

"He's gone."

"Where?"

"I don't know. He just went." She had dismissed him with a wave of her hand but inside she was cursing furiously.

"We shall proceed to the school," she ordered with a sneer on the last word, hoping that the Order were ready.

She had to stop him, she couldn't just stand there and let him kill Severus. However, when she tried to move, she found that she couldn't. A glance at Severus told her why.  
As he crumpled in a heap on the floor, she had to suppress a sob.

"Come, my dear."

"I am a little weary," she said in smooth but tired voice. "Besides, I should stay, until he is fully dead. I shall come once it is done." And she kissed him, standing over the body of the man she loved, she kissed his murderer and the monster believed it.

Once Voldemort was gone, she dropped to her knees next to him and, to her surprise, was soon joined by Potter, Hermione and the Weasel. Severus made a heart-wrenching rasping, gurgling noise in his throat and the boy-who-lived-to-vex bent down, seemingly unconscious of her presence. Her beloved pulled the fool close and sputtered:

"Take... it... Take... it." It was then that she saw the billows of silver mixed with crimson; Slytherin's secondary mingling with Gryffindor's primary, she thought as she watched detachedly. Once Potter had filled the flask to the brim with her darling's memories, the latter loosed his grip on the boy's robes and slumped back, his head falling so as to look straight at her.

"Eli... zabeth..., I... I love... you," he whispered with what should have been his last breath. She pushed Potter aside and kissed Severus full on the mouth.  
Muggles call mouth-to-mouth resuscitation the 'Kiss of Life', but it can hardly compare to the potion of that name which Elizabeth had smeared on her lips earlier that night for just such an eventuality. While that potion was keeping him invigorated, she pulled a flask from the inner pocket of her robes. It was as she was massaging it into neck that she realised that the Gryffindor triumvirate were still there.  
Then her lord's voice rang out all around them, she was really beginning to regret having taught him that one, he liked it way too much.

"You have fought valiantly. Lord Voldemort knows how to value bravery. Yet, you have sustained losses. If you continue to resist me, you will all die, one by one. I do not wish this to happen. Every drop of magical blood is a loss and a waste. Lord Voldemort is merciful. I command my forces to retreat, immediately. You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured.  
"I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you, rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me, have not given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, I shall find you and I shall punish every last man, woman and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour."

"My goodness, a whole hour," she murmured to herself.

"He... always did... hold you in... high regard."

"Don't speak, Severus. Potter, go! You need to see those memories, I wish we had the time for us to explain it to you, but we don't! Go!" Hermione and Ron looked set to argue. "Look, we're loyal to the Order, I know it hasn't looked that way this last year, but we are. So, trust me and _go_." They went. She only stayed a few more minutes to help Severus get comfortable and then left to report to Voldemort.

There was no chance he would be fool enough to come, she assured herself. Then the two scouts entered the circle. As Yaxley and Dolohov rejoined the circle, Voldemort looked up.

"No sign of him, my Lord," said Dolohov and Elizabeth smothered a sigh of relief. However, after some mumblings from Bella and Marvolo, the idiotic boy revealed himself.  
Elizabeth watched the encounter between the boy and her master with baited breath. Throughout their exchange, she shot numerous glances at Lucius, who was rather pale and looked terrified. When the even stupider Hagrid blundered in, it was she that bound him in place, as Severus had done to her earlier.

When the Dark Lord collapsed, she darted forward and scooped his head onto her lap, even as she implored heaven for him to be dead.

"That will do," bit out Voldemort in response to Bella's mewling.

"My lord," whispered Elizabeth in a loving tone that she did not feel like bestowing on him at that moment. The Dark Lord paused in getting to his feet, as his concerned Death Eaters scattered, to kiss her and then pulled her up with him.

After Grawp, the civilians, the centaurs and Longbottom slaughtering Nagini had made a nice distraction, everyone bundled into the school. Elizabeth kept close, very close, to the Dark Lord. She saw his spells, and hers for sake of pretence, bounce away from several of the students. Potter was evidently in the vicinity and it was not long before he had stepped out to meet Voldemort.

"I don't want anyone else to try to help," ordered Potter, loudly, and in the total silence his voice carried to everyone. That is not to say, that everyone obeyed him; Elizabeth had her orders, as much as she hated the idea of killing her lover.

'_He tried to kill Severus.  
_'_He said he regretted it.  
_'_Yes, but his greed for power won out.  
_'_And you'll be next, if he's not stopped._'

"Accident and chance and the fact that you crouched and snivelled behind the skirts of greater men and women and permitted me to kill them for you!"

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Potter.

"And neither will you," said Elizabeth, stepping up behind Voldemort, though she had made sure that he could not hear her. "Goodbye, my darling," she whispered, a hand stretched out towards the monster, and then her wand swept through the air. "_Avada Kedavra_!" she roared, a flash of green light lit the whole hall and Voldemort fell down dead.

"You traitor!" roared an incandescent Greyback, who had managed to free himself from the Weasel and Longbottom. He launched himself at Elizabeth and she dashed from the hall with him in hot pursuit. He finally tackled her to the ground when they reached Fiereze's classroom.

"One chance," she hissed in her lover's voice. "Get off me _now_ or _die_!" He had gone for her throat and, with a strength she didn't know she had, she wrenched him down by his neck, while she powered her left palm into his shoulder. There was a sickening crunch as his shoulder came out of its socket. The werewolf let out a howl of pain, but then lunged at her anew and she scratched at his throat with her long, manicured nails. They had been fighting tooth and claw, literally, for nearly ten minutes when a yell from the door distracted Greyback.

"_Sectumsempra Magnum_!" Fenrir collapsed on top of her, turned into ribbons by the curse. "I thought I told you to stay put," she said, mock-sternly, as she calmly got out from under what was left of the werewolf's carcass.

"I'm sorry." She glanced at his neck.

"The potion had already done its work." He gaped at her speechlessly and then, when he tried to speak again, naught but a gargling noise came from him. She swore, but, as the Apparation wards were still down, she grabbed him and took him to the Irish wizarding hospital.  
Three weeks later, once the immediately fixable wounded had been cleared, he was transferred to St Mungo's.


	6. Midnight Revelations

Elizabeth woke, shivering, from the pensieve.  
It was nearly midnight and she was alone in their sitting-room. Her homework lay, long done, on the desk next to the stone basin. She was not quite sure what had made her fall into her memories. She was even less sure why the blasted contraption had decided to show her those ones.

'_Why the Battle of Hogwarts?  
_'**You've been running ever since,**' wisped a voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like Albus.  
'_**Hardly surprising after what you forced her to do!**_' seethed Voldemort.  
'_Get out of my head! ... Both of you!  
_'_**What, don't you want me dear?  
**_'**Stop trying to seduce her Tom, she needs to let you go.  
**'_**But she doesn't want to. Even though she killed me and loves Severus, she can't give me up.  
**_'_Hardly surprising,_' she muttered, internally.  
'**Why?  
**'_**Don't be so sharp with her, you old fool. **_What is it, darling?" She was about to answer when she realised that the question had not come from within her head. Elizabeth turned to see Severus leaning next to the door with his patrolling over-robe still about his shoulders.

"Oh, nothing," she smiled, getting up from the carved mahogany chair she had been curled up in. "Glass o' wine?" He was silent and, as she had her back to him while stood by the shelf where they kept the current bottle and two glasses, she could not see if he had nodded. When she looked over her shoulder at him, she found him in the exact same spot with the same patient glower pouring from his dark eyes. "What?" she asked with a shaky laugh.

"That's what I asked you?" he said, coldly.

"What's happened? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Maybe you forgot the glamour charm tonight," he sneered, gazing pointedly at her stomach. Elizabeth looked down, it was protruding more then it should in rounded sort of way. She sighed and dropped onto the sofa, which was the closest seat.

"I've been meaning to tell you, but it's only been a couple of days since I moved back in and..." He was just staring at her. "I'm sorry, it dates from the end of May, beginning of June."

"I see," he said, curtly, and turned to go.

"No," she sighed and got up. "This is your home, Severus. Goodbye." She walked out, not expecting to ever return. As she crossed the threshold, she flicked her wand and all of her things were sent to her room at Malfoy Manor.

_EG_

**Elizabeth had, at least, thought to grab her cloak on her way out. Now, she pulled it tight around her and made her way up through the silent, night-shrouded castle. She had nearly reached her goal, the head girl's rooms on the sixth floor, when someone spotted her.**

**"****Five points from– Miss Havisham, what are you doing here?" asked Minerva, concern threaded through her voice.**

**"****I... I wanted to... no, needed, to see Hermione," she said in a confusion of resignation and emphasis.**

**"****What's he done now?" The Scot surveyed her and her face registered a slight shock. "He hasnae thrown ye out?"**

**"****No," sighed the younger woman. "I walked out, not that he'll want me back, which is fair enough, there's not many that would..." she rambled and then ran her hand over her bound hair.**

**"****What's happened? Why ye're in such a state?" Minerva, deciding this was probably not the best place for Elizabeth to have to answer those questions, ushered her down the corridor to the entrance to Hermione's suite.**

**"****Crooks' hanks," said Elizabeth, wearily, and the portrait of a portly, yet elegant, Italian witch swung open.**

**"****Liz?" yawned Hermione from her place by the fire. Her confusion melted to shock when she saw Minerva behind her friend. "Professor McGonagall? What's going on?" Elizabeth sighed and slumped down onto the hearth rug. Once McGonagall was inside, Elizabeth waved her wand, warding the door against eavesdroppers and, with another wave of her wand, the paintings were deafened and it was impossible for anything else to enter the pictures.**

**"****I... Oh, Hermione, I'm pregnant and Severus found out," she said and began to cry.**

**"****Why isn't this the good news it should be?" Minerva probed, while Hermione dropped down next to her friend and put her arms around her.**

**"****A-as you know, Mar-Marvolo re-re-removed me from school a-at the end of April."**

**"****Ah... I see."**

**"****You mean... You're carrying ****Voldemort's**** child?" Hermione asked in shock. Elizabeth nodded and the other girl sat back, gaping at her.**

**"****And you don't think Severus will stand by you?" Minerva asked gently.**

**"****Why would he?" she laughed, bitterly, sounding oddly like Bella for a moment. "He hated ****him**** with every fibre; he won't even want the child to see the light of day. Truth be told, I'm surprised he was even prepared to touch something that ****he**** had had pleasure with!" She was on her feet now, pacing as the other two looked on.**

**"****And you ****do****?" Hermione was incredulous. "Want it to live, I mean."**

**"****Of course!" yelled Elizabeth, rounding on her friend. "It's my child and... I loved him," she whispered. "Oh, why did it have to me?!" she cried and collapsed to the floor. "Why couldn't he 'ave just let Potter do it?! Why did I have to kill him?" She was sobbing again and was crouched forwards. Minerva came and put her arms around the girl and Elizabeth snuggled closer, unthinkingly. This was her ****real**** mother, just as Lucius was her ****real**** father; the family she had built for herself, that was all that really mattered.**

**"****How far are you?" murmured the Scotswoman.**

**"****Four months," she sniffled.**

**"****So, February or March for the birth." The 19-year-old nodded.**

**"****I thought I'd be married by now. I thought I would be settled with Severus and we'd be planning our lives and now ****everything****'s gone wrong." Minerva looked down at the girl sadly and sighed.**

**Elizabeth had been doomed the moment Voldemort had regained power. He was bound to want the only other living descendant of Salazar Slytherin as one of his Death Eaters. Dumbledore had known this and had prepared her to be his spy. Of course, there had been no way of knowing that the bit of Voldemort that was still human would fall in love with her. But, he had and now she had to live with the consequences. It really had not been fair of Albus to ask Elizabeth to kill Voldemort. Then again, Albus had believed it was all for her cover, he had not realised that she had loved Tom in return.**

**"****Come on. You can sleep here tonight." – Hermione was too shocked to speak, but she nodded encouragingly – "And tomorrow, you can go to Hogsmeade with everyone else." Elizabeth shook her head.**

**"****I'm going to Lucius' tomorrow." Minerva merely nodded; if there was anyone she trusted with Elizabeth, when the girl was distressed, it was Lucius Malfoy, loathed as Minerva was to admit it, even to herself.**

_EG_

**When Elizabeth woke up the next morning, she thought she was in Severus' quarters for one, golden moment. Then she remembered the scene that had played out when he had returned from patrolling. The young woman sighed and tried to sink further into the bed, while forcing back the tears that were threatening to overcome her. Thankfully, at that moment, the last events of the previous night flooded through her.**

**Hermione had lent her the silver-trimmed, forest-green nightgown that Elizabeth had given the other girl, as a joke, for Christmas last year. After she had changed, cried herself to a stand-still and finished her toilette, the other two had helped her to bed and then returned to the sitting-room.  
It had taken a good half an hour to cry herself to sleep with tears she did not know she possessed.**

**Something shifted in the bed next to her. Probably Crookshanks. Elizabeth dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom where her clothes were still piled on the shelf.  
Even though she was going to be putting on dirty clothes, Elizabeth decided to take a shower before getting dressed. She had been under the water for what seemed like a blissful eternity, but was only ten minutes in actuality. Someone tapped on the door.**

**'****Oh, go away, Hermione.****' They knocked again, this time harder. '****Fine.****' She turned off the water, stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. On the way to the door, she grabbed everything she would need to get dressed. The person on the outside banged on the door.**

**"****I'm just coming!" she called in irritation. Checking that the towel was tight around her, she went and opened the door. It was not Hermione waiting to go into the shower, it was Severus.**

**"****What****–****?" she started, part-indignant, part-angry. He stepped towards her and she backed away, he smirked malignantly. They went on like this until she was backed against the shower wall. "What do you want?" He put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her against the wall. She put her hands to his chest to push him away, forgetting the towel.**

**"****Isn't this what you want?" he sneeringly rasped, pushing himself tight up against her. "You wanted back in my bed. Here you are, I'm dominating you, just as you wanted."**

**"****No. This isn't what I want." She pushed him away and he stood there gazing at her for a moment and then swept out. Elizabeth crumpled to the tiled floor and cried, until she ran out of tears again. Then she got up and got dressed before heading down to breakfast.**

_EG_

**He was not at breakfast, for which she was grateful. She was also grateful for Draco who, having noticed her red eyes, was sitting with his arm around her waist and letting her slump against him. He really was the best friend she could have ever had hoped for.**

**After a cup of hot chocolate and a couple of croissants, Elizabeth had revived and turned a grateful, sleepy smile on Draco.**

**"****Are you ready to go?" The boy only nodded; he, like Minerva, thought Lucius was the best one to deal with her when she had worked herself into a state and Draco did not want to risk saying anything that would provoke her. They got up and their host of followers and friends rose too and they all headed out in the direction of Hogsmeade.**

**"****Hey, Elizabeth!" called a rather familiar voice from behind them. "Wait up!" She sighed and Draco stiffened, expecting her wrath to break, but she merely turned to the out-of-breath youth who was hurrying after them.**

**"****What is it, Theo?" He looked at her curiously as he caught his breath, but then straightened and came towards her.**

**"****I'm sorry, Liz. I didn't mean to be such a jerk and I'm glad that your happy with Snape. Will you forgive me?"**

**'****It's not like he could know about our problems.  
****'****And you could use a few good friends.****' "'Course, Theo," she smiled. "Why wouldn't I? It was just a small tiff, not something to come between friends." He smiled but stood there as though not sure what to do, but before he could step away she stepped forward and hugged him. Theo hugged her back tightly.**

**"****I was so worried," he murmured.**

**"****I know; I was too."**

**"****I don't want to ever loose you."**

**"****Then help me keep a close hold," she whispered and stepped back from him, wiping her eyes. Draco and Theo each wrapped an arm round her as they walked down the curving path towards the gates.**

**"****Uh, Lady Havisham?" piped up a small, nervous, voice on her right.**

**"****Yes?" she sighed, raising her head and looking past Theo to a mousy-looking boy, who was probably in his third year. "What would you like?"**

**"****You must find it very surprising to see me standing here and addressing you when all these noble orators and distinguished citizens remain silent," he said in a firm, carrying voice. She was mildly impressed, Cicero was not widely read, even in the best families. She nodded to indicate that he should continue. "I cannot compare with thy noble acquaintances in either age or influence, but I begged an audience to put forward a very distressing case."**

**"****Oh?" Elizabeth asked, intrigued, slipping out from the supportive arms of her brothers. "Which case would that be, Mister...?"**

**"****Arthur Stebbins, milady."**

**"****Ah, yes," she said, darkly. "I had the pleasure of Mr Thomas Stebbins' company last Friday."**

**"****Yes, my cousin."**

**"****Your cousin. So I should be paying you my condolences."**

**"****Oh, no, ma'am. I am the son of the third brother," he explained.**

**"****That was a risk. So, what can I do for you?"**

**"****It is ****not**** what you can do for me, but what ****you**** can do for your country." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, this kid was good and knew how to use quotes appropriately.**

**'****Yes, he'll go far.  
****'****He'd definitely be worth taking on as an associate.  
****'****Yes, he would.****'**

**"****As you know, my uncle has been accused of a horrendous crime, the murder of his own ****wife**** by her brother, who is asking for the return of the lady's dowry." Elizabeth smiled, this was a much better way of putting the case. "In truth, I would not be stood before you like this if it were not for the fact that murder places a stigma on the whole family for generations to come."**

**'****Nice. Not making it about the money, but his own honour.****'**

**"****I would dispel these rumours myself, but as a member of the family I hold no credence and also I hold no influence."**

**"****Nicely done," she smiled. "I especially admire a circular argument. Now, your cousin said something about the Wizengamot, if I remember correctly..."**

**"****Yes. My uncle's case is being heard on the 13****th**** of next month."**

**"****You know, it's strange for now I remember, your cousin actually asked me to speak to Cornelius."**

**The boy muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like: "The fool!" but then turned his attention back to her. "The notice of the hearing was only delivered at the end of August, evidently my cousin wasn't aware of it." Elizabeth laughed.**

**"****You're right, you're cousin really is a fool." He flushed but smiled. "OK, I'll send a few letters and make it known that I do not believe that Anthony Stebbins is guilty of his wife's murder."**

**"****Oh, the hearing isn't about the murder, it's about the money. No, her brother didn't have enough evidence to charge him with murder. However, if the court finds in her brother's favour, then it will be inferred that he murdered her."**

**"****Because the only grounds on which a dowry can removed from a husband's possession and returned to her father's family is if it is proven that he hurt her."**

**"****Precisely. And as she just died, people will infer that that means he murdered her."**

**"****Also, it is very likely that the brother can prove he hurt her, even if it was inadvertent, if she was in contact with her brother... I will try my up-most. Thank you for your effort, Mr Stebbins, it was a pleasure to hear you. I look forward to seeing you again."**

**"****I would be honoured, ma'am," he said, bowing. "Thank you for your assurance of help, my uncle will be so relieved. Good day, Lady ****Gaunt****." Arthur's smile showed that he had deliberately not used that name when addressing her earlier. "Oh, I'm glad you like the ring, I helped my aunt choose it." Elizabeth smiled and raised the signet ring to her lips and kissed it. The 14-year-old bowed again and then set off at a brisk walk towards the village, while she, Theo and Draco stopped.**

**"****Why are you stopping?" ****Claranne**** asked.**

**"Oh, we're not coming with you," Elizabeth answered. There was a general outcry, which Draco cut through.**

**"We have a standing invitation to dine with my father today. So, we'll see you all later," he told them, sternly. There was a chorus of goodbyes and several people came up and kissed Draco and Elizabeth's hands, unaware of how pathetic the pair thought them.**


	7. Nevermore

Draco and Theo rushed at Elizabeth, spun her round and then they all fell down, laughing, in front of the gates that closed off the grounds of Malfoy Manor. Laughing and chattering, the three Slytherins pushed through the gates and made their way up the path and front steps. Elizabeth rapped forcefully and the door was opened by a rather bedraggled-looking house-elf.

"Good day, miss. Scorps shall go find master." Before Elizabeth could let out some heated reply, Draco stepped into the house-elf's view.

"Get back to the kitchen, Scorps. We can find our own way." Draco moved aside to let Elizabeth and Theo enter before him.  
Once inside, Elizabeth led Theo across the vast foyer to the family's lounge. There sat Lucius on the left-hand couch, which had its back to the five full-length windows that gave marvellous views across the park. Narcissa was sat, stiffly, in the upright armchair beside him and, to Elizabeth's very great but invisible surprise, Severus was sat on the couch facing Lucius'.

"Hello, my dear," said Lucius, getting up and approaching Elizabeth.

"Hi, darling," she smiled and kissed him on the cheek, leaving her lips pressed to his skin rather longer than was needed. When she finally drew back, he raised his well-manicured eyebrows at her. "I hope you don't mind, hun, we brought Theo with us."

"Of course! Not a problem at all. In fact, I'm sure your parents will be delighted to see you," he exclaimed, cheerfully, going over and shaking Theo's hand.

"Thank you, sir."

"What do you mean, his parents will be delighted to _see_ him?" Elizabeth asked, shrewdly.

"Well," Lucius started, turning to her to see how badly she was taking it. "I thought that Igelbert, you and I could profit from talking in person." She smiled at him, telling him with her eyes and the twist of her mouth that she had been teasing.

"So," she began, but had to stop because she was in serious danger of bursting out laughing at the look on his face. "So, when are they getting here?"

"I said about three o'clock," Lucius answered, still glaring sternly at her but with a slight twitch about the left corner of his mouth.

"So, we can expect them from about half past two, if Desdemona is in charge–"

"Or quarter past three, if Igelbert is," nodded Lucius, finishing her train of thought perfectly as always.

"Sorry, Theo," said Elizabeth, noticing he was opening his mouth to argue. "We're not being mean to your parents, it's just that punctuality isn't one of their strong points." She then walked over to where Narcissa was sat, skirting Severus' deliberately outstretched legs.  
"Carissa!" cried Elizabeth, joyfully, and watched with amusement as the older woman cringed. "It's been too long." Here, she swooped down in a flap of robes, that would remind Narcissa of the Dark Lord, and pecked her on each cheek. "We left in _such_ a hurry last time that I wasn't able to thank you for your hospitality," she said in a honey-sweet voice with a malicious smirk, before stretching herself out on Lucius' couch. The boys then came and sat down: Draco in an armchair between his mother and godfather, Theo next to Severus and Lucius went to resume his seat, only to find Elizabeth's legs there.

"Excuse me."

"Yes, darling, what have you done?" she grinned up at him.

"Nothing... yet. But that might change if you don't let me sit down."

"You can sit down," she answered lightly. Elizabeth had removed her shoes and pulled on her green velvet slippers before entering the lounge, so she was not dirtying their couch.

"Fine!" and he did, right on her feet, but she only smiled at him, putting her head on one side.

"Honestly! From the way they behave, you would think they were in love," muttered Draco as his father and friend negotiated so that they ended up with Elizabeth's feet in Lucius' lap, as they knew they would.

"They are!" "They were," answered Narcissa and Severus simultaneously.

"She flouts her position in my husband's regard all the time! There have been times when I've expected to be poisoned in my sleep!"

"How _dare_ you?!" hissed Elizabeth, turning a twisted, wrathful, snake-like visage on Narcissa. "If I were to kill you, you'd be awake, facing me and armed. So don't you _dare _impugn my honour by suggesting otherwise."

"So you have considered killing her?" murmured Severus.

"What would be the point in upsetting Lucius? I can get everything I want from him with her alive," Elizabeth drawled, stroking the blond in question's stomach with her right foot.

"So far," he said, darkly, but still smiling.

"So far," Elizabeth said with an evil grin. Narcissa turned her head aside, as though she wanted to cry, and Elizabeth grinned exultantly. Severus had to admit that she wasn't exactly pleasant, but he couldn't help but support; he was lost. "Oh!" cried the Slytherin queen, getting up. "I need to go get changed. I'll be back soon, darling." She swooped down and kissed Lucius' cheek, glaring pointedly at Severus; Lucius was right.

_EG_

Elizabeth took the stairs at a sprint up to the second floor and then strode down the right-hand corridor to her bedroom. The door swung inwards for her and she went straight to her wardrobe, pulled out a green gown, because it was the first thing that came to hand, and trudged into the bathroom to change.

'_Why is he here?!  
_'_Because you had Lucius invite him.  
_'_Yes, but under the circumstances you would have thought he would have had the decency to stay away.  
_'_Decency? You may have forgotten, but he doesn't seem to have an sense of the term._' She shuddered as she remembered what had happened earlier: the wet shower wall against her back, his warm hands on her shoulders, his knee between her legs, the starched towel falling either side of her torso... She shivered again, but then blocked the memory from her mind and became the calm, cool queen again as she left the en suite and made her way back to the lounge.

As she crossed the landing that led into the first floor corridors, he was coming towards her.

"Elizabeth..."

"What?" she spat. "Coming to finish what you started earlier?" Even though she was livid, her voice was a dulcet murmur.

"I'm sorry–"

"Well that doesn't cut it any more, lover."

"Please, hear me out."

"No! You hate me. You hate what I love. You hate my flesh." She put a hand to her stomach and pushed past him.

"I love you!" he cried in frustration.

"More fool you!" she hurled at him, spinning back to face him. "Did you really think you could ever compete with the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen? Did you ever think I would choose you?" Instead of wasting words arguing with her, Severus caught her to him and kissed her hard. He pushed her up against the wall and held her there carefully.

"Forgive me, last night, I was reacting on impulse. I love you and, when you let me call him my son, I will love your child." She looked up at him, shocked.

"You don't mean..." He nodded. "But, this morning...?"

"I was... I was trying to take his place, but I never can. I'm not that dominating monster." She laughed.

"Severus, hun. He didn't try to dominate me. Evidently, trying to dominate the world all day left him wanting to be dominated at night." Severus laughed with her and, once they had quieted, he ran his hand through her hair.

"Elizabeth Helena Gaunt, will you marry me?"

"Severus Tobias Snape, I hereby pledge to marry you, so long as we are both fit and able." The formal words of a pureblood betrothal ceremony came naturally to them and spared them the awkwardness of trying to find the right words. He put a silver band, set with a single amethyst, on the third finger of her left hand and then kissed her again.

"Now there's a sight for sore eyes," said someone from the stairs below them.

"Aren't you disappointed, darling?" Elizabeth asked, teasingly.

"Oi! Stop flirting, you. I've just got you, I'm not about to lose you to Lucius." She laughed.

"Oh, you lost me to Lucius long before you first had me." Lucius, who had now joined them on the landing, smiled and hugged her to him.

"Congratulations, darling. He's a fine man," he murmured into her hair.

"Don't I know it," she said, slightly ruefully. Severus put his arm around her waist and Lucius put his round her shoulders.

These were her true brothers. Theo and Draco were wonderful, but they hadn't been through it all with her; these two had. These were the two she could always rely on, even when they were in a towering temper at each other, she could always rely on them being there to help her. She loved them deeply and knew they both returned it. They might joke about it now, but they all knew that if Narcissa had died in the war, Lucius would have been competing with Severus for Elizabeth, but an engrained sense of duty kept him trapped in this marriage. However, Elizabeth would always take precedence in his heart and home, over Narcissa.

_EG_

Draco came to meet them as the three of them re-entered the lounge.

"Could you two keep the flirting down? Mama is very upset."

"And why, pray tell, should she be upset by me flirting with my betrothed?" Elizabeth asked, turning and kissing Severus full on the mouth. Draco shook his head at her and sighed.

"You really are the ficklest of women."

"Not fickle, just confused and spoiled for choice."

"Oh, yeah, _that_'s why Parkinson wants to scratch your eyes," drawled Theo.

"Oh, _do_ shut up," she told him as she and Severus came and sat down together on the other end of his couch.

"Narcissa has just been telling us your wonderful news," oozed Desdemona Nott, enthusiastically.

"Has she now?" said Elizabeth, sweetly, giving the Malfoy matriarch a crocodile grin. "And how are you, my dear Lady Nott?"

"I'm fine, just fine, thank you, my lady. May I ask when you expect to go in to confinement?"

"We were thinking about the middle of February, won't we, dear?" she said, smiling up at Severus, who nodded.

"Not that I would know anything about it; I leave ladies' concerns to the ladies concerned," said her fiancée, acting the perfect pureblood male.

"Oh, so a December wedding?" smiled the over-inquisitive Lady Nott.

"Not at all!" Desdemona looked shocked. "November will be better, I don't wish to be in great discomfort on the happiest day of my life," Elizabeth told her with another smile at Severus.

"Of course not, of course not," prattled Igelbert's good, but foolish, lady.

"And how are you, sir?" asked Lucius, holding out a hand to the long-suffering man.

"Well, thank you, Lord Malfoy. I am greatly honoured at receiving such an invitation."

"Yes, so kind of you, Lady Malfoy, to include us in such a select party," simpered Desdemona, causing Elizabeth to hide her face in Severus' shoulder to keep from laughing; Narcissa had nothing to do with the organising of select party or even large ones or, for that matter, the running of Malfoy Manor at all. If Lucius ever wanted a lady's opinion on some matter, he always asked Elizabeth. She had been the real mistress of his house since the summer before Voldemort's return.

"Dinner is served. I must entreat you to follow me," squeaked a smartly presented house-elf.

"Come, my dear," said Lucius, offering his hand to Elizabeth. She and he were the two persons of most consequence and, therefore, must enter first. Narcissa followed behind, leaning on her son's arm. After them came Sir Igelbert and his wife, followed by Theo and Severus.


	8. New Ideas

**Dinner passed in the quiet civility that was the usual state of affairs between Elizabeth and Narcissa, until the ladies withdrew.**

**"****Well," began Igelbert, once the door had swung shut behind the ladies. "I must congratulate you, Dr Snape, but I must also admit myself highly confused." He turned a frown on Lucius. "I thought you were too desperately in love with her to let her marry another?"**

**"****If she wishes to marry, it is not in my power nor is it my right to stop her," he answered, coolly. Igelbert merely nodded; they were all perceptive enough to know that Lucius had not actually denied being in love with Elizabeth.**

**"****She is an amazing woman," murmured Draco, contemplatively.**

**"****Yeah," sighed Theo, still regretting his rash words, even though she would now be happy. "Do you think she's capable of being happy? I mean, truly happy, not just passingly so." The other four all shook their heads, each having no way of answering.**

**"****It might be indelicate to ask," began the Nott patriarch. "but is the baby a relic of war?" As Severus was opening his mouth to answer honestly, Lucius caught his eye and shook his own head.**

**"****Yes, although I am loathed to admit that I was so cruelly creating life when at any moment I might lose my own." They all nodded their understanding and Lucius then moved the conversation on to some bill on increasing the connectedness of European educational establishments, which he was in favour of; Igelbert was not overly keen on; Severus was dreading as part of the bill was an exchange program; and Theo and Draco were keen to hear about, having been completely ignorant of it until now.**

_EG_

**Having discussed several of their shared contacts, including the Parkinsons and Greengrasses, Desdemona and Narcissa ceased their conversing and, while the latter disturbed Elizabeth's reading of the Prophet, Lady Nott took a cushion case from the communal work basket. As she settled herself near the window, Narcissa drew close to the woman she hated most in the world.**

**"****Now that you are engaged, can I expect to see less of you?"**

**"****Lucius owns another estate in this area, doesn't he?" It was not a question that needed answering, Elizabeth knew every detail of the elder Malfoy's business.**

**"****Yes, Caverham House, what of it?" Elizabeth just smiled at the older woman in answer. "How can you do this?" Narcissa exclaimed suddenly, but then dropped her voice when Desdemona looked up. "How can you marry Severus? Lucius loves you," she told her, bitterly. "and you love him. Is it really fair on Severus?"**

**"****Listen to me!" Elizabeth hissed, sitting forwards toward the supposed lady of the house. "And listen well: your husband had his chance and he blew it. That was before I started up with Severus and Lucius knew he had lost all chance of me being his wife when that happened. Now, I'm just the woman he loves but can never have. Some part of me does love Lucius, probably the ambitious politician in me, and he will always be high in my regard: we've been through too much for him to ever lose that place with me. However, the wife and mother in me, the docile little housewife, loves Severus with all my heart. Then again, the out-of-place schoolgirl, loves Draco as fully but as a brother. To put it simply, Narcissa," she said and then paused to collect her thoughts and to take a deep breath. "I love many people, I like more, suffer some and actively dislike a few. Lucius knows and understands this, now you need to too and get over your jealousy."**

**"****But he ****_loves_**** you!" snapped the older woman, frustrated. "He has never loved anyone else: not his father, not Draco and certainly not me."**

**"****I know," said Elizabeth, quietly. "I do love him, I always have and always will. I told him I would marry him, but he had to prove that he was actually ready to make that commitment." The younger woman got up to move to the window but Narcissa caught her wrist.**

**"****He could not marry you, he was still married to me."**

**"****Precisely," said Elizabeth, looking down at the pale, thin woman before her with a dead look in her eyes. "I told him to kill you, but he said it was his duty to keep the family together. I let him go. We will always regret that he did not have the strength to take the opportunity I offered, but ****_you_****" – she sneered, her expression turning to disgust – "can take solace. It does not matter how many affairs you have, he will never take retribution on you. However," she hissed, leaning down. "if I ever find your perfume on my husband or in his bed, do not doubt: I ****_will_**** visit Fenrir's fate on you both." Then, she pulled away and went to stand beside Desdemona's chair at the window.**

_EG_

**It was after a further half hour of silent tension among the women and talk among the men, before they came into the drawing-room. The ladies were glad of their company as a relief of the tension that had been so icily built up by two of their number.**

**"****Shall we take our coffee in my study, Lady Gaunt? Sir Igelbert?" Severus caught his fianc****é****'s eye, then glanced at Narcissa. Elizabeth's jaw tightened as she saw the glint of first triumph and then fear in Narcissa's eye.**

**"****Severus will also join us, Lucius," she said in a hard voice that none of them had heard since the war and had all hoped never to hear again.**

**"****Of course, I trust he is abreast of all the developments thus far?" Lucius said, trying to smooth over the memories that voice brought to the men's minds. Severus nodded and the four prepared to leave, Lucius and Igelbert kissed their wives' cheek, before the lord of the manor led the others up to the first floor and along to his study. Once inside, they settled into the velvet-covered, over-stuffed armchairs that were arranged in front of the walk-in fireplace and set about discussing what they had managed to come up with so far and what they should do next. Elizabeth sat herself at Lucius' left and her lover sat himself across from her.**

**"****Strong with a drop of milk, so that it's a golden brown," said Lucius, holding out one of his mugs to Elizabeth. She gratefully accepted it, but placed it on the table between them. This, of course, was one of the many advantages of having coffee in Lucius' study, rather than Narcissa's sitting-room: you got decent sized mugs, not piddly little teacups. Their host handed out the rest of the coffees and then sat back with his own. "The floor is yours, my dear."**

**"****Thank you. Well, I trust you both got my last letter?" They nodded, so she continued: "As I said, that study is lacking sufficient data. I think it would be wise to suggest to Cornelius that this study will raise negative feeling, particularly with the parents of the children from the study. Separately, I think we need to distribute copies of the study to the most old-world of the Wizengamot."**

**"****And possibly a reporter?" suggested Igelbert.**

**"****Yes," mused Lucius.**

**"****So long as it's someone from a ****_respected_**** periodical and it's not Rita Skeeter, then fine."**

**"****Skeeter's become a liability," added Lucius. "Oh, I found another study, by the way. It was published about five years ago and covered thirty years and all different parent types. It actually showed that, as long as the parents are no nearer than second cousins, there is no danger to the child. It also shows that the rate Pye and Clay came up with is also prevalent in half-blood and squib couplings."**

**"****We should add that to the package. You're right about Skeeter, she is a liability, ****but**** we can't get distracted at the moment, so leave her be. Can you find us a reliable reporter?"**

**"****Yes. I've been cultivating Jeremy Weaver for a while, from the ****_Wizarding Chronicle_****," Igelbert told them and Elizabeth smiled.**

**"****That seems to be everything sorted." She began to rise, but was halted by three sets of raised eyebrows and piercing stares. "Fine," she sighed annoyed, sitting again.**

**"****We need a plan for if we fail to stop the bill," Igelbert apologised.**

**"****You ****_are_**** the one who is always saying we need to be prepared for any eventuality," added Severus, but his fiancé shot him a murderous glare. He shut up but only to allow his brain to ponder over what could have happened between her leaving table and Lucius making his suggestion. The only thing he could think of was that Narcissa had revealed they used to be lovers but why would she do that?**

**"****Well," she said, bringing out the original note from Williams. "My spy said 'muggle witches', so it will probably only effect pureblooded males who are not yet married."**

**"****Basically, he wants to take the money and property away from the old blood-lines," Igelbert said, his blood pressure rising.**

**"****Probably thinks half-bloods will be more generous," Severus dared to mutter and the other men agreed, but Elizabeth just sat there a grin of realisation spreading very slowly across her face.**

**"****Of course!" she breathed.**

**"****Oh no," dead-panned Lucius, teasingly.**

**"****There's no getting any sense out of her like this," sighed Severus.**

**"****Oh, shut up, you two," she snapped at them, but then her grin relit her face and took on an evil tint. "Have you heard about the European Excellence of Education Bill?"**

**"****Yes," Lucius told her in a bored voice, he was quite used to her sudden explosions and did not let them worry him much.**

**"****We were, in fact, discussing it earlier."**

**"****Well, if our young men have to marry Mudbloods, then let's make sure it's Mudbloods with fortunes and property who have been raised in the same manner as ****_our_**** young women have been raised." It amazed them how she, who had served on Dumbledore's side since the beginning, could use that word so easily. They all stared at her in silence for a moment and then Lucius caught on to her meaning.**

**"****You're a genius," he told her with a grin.**

**"****I have my moments," she smiled, dropping her eyes.**

**"****That would work well..." started Igelbert, nodding slowly.**

**"****But how does the education bill help?" asked Severus.**

**"****They're planning on exchanges," she smiled. "So, we don't even have to work out our own system for bringing the girls across."**

**"****Basically," began Lucius. "our system of arranging marriages will be linked to those in other countries and extended to include appropriate Mudbloods." Elizabeth laughed.**

**"****What?" asked Severus.**

**"****Cornelius has been wanting us to co-operate with other countries for ages!" They all laughed at the thought of Cornelius when he discovered that he had inadvertently become the means to one of his beloved ends.**


	9. Next Step

**Once they were finished with business, Severus escorted Elizabeth, Theo and Draco back to Hogwarts.**

**"****A word, if you would, my dear," said Severus, quietly, as they achieved the summit of the steps to the front doors.**

**"****Not today, love," answered Elizabeth on a yawn with a stretch but in a tight voice for those who understood the subtleties of it. "I really am ****_quite_**** exhausted." She passed through the doors ahead of him and made her way up to the head girl's rooms. She could hear his swift footsteps behind her but she did not care and would not stop.**

**"****I have done nothing," he hissed, grabbing her by the arm and pushing her against the wall. "to deserve this treatment."**

**"****Severus, I do not even have the strength to examine that claim," Elizabeth said in a bored, tired voice. She pulled away from him and moved away in a controlled stagger, an arm slung loosely across her stomach. Severus set his jaw and stalked away: he had wasted enough time on trying to make this relationship work today, he had marking and other duties to attend to now.**

**"****Crooks' hanks," yawned Elizabeth, standing before Hermione's portrait guard. The picture swung inward to reveal Hermione and Remus on one sofa with Harry and Ginny on the opposite one and Ron, Neville and Luna sat on the floor, all were laughing. The Slytherin queen turned to leave, the happy easiness between Hermione and Remus had cut her to the heart but the Head Girl had spotted her.**

**"****Liz!" she called with a happiness that pained her friend. Elizabeth turned, a smile forced onto her lips.**

**"****I am sorry, I did not realise you had company. I'll just go." She turned back to the portrait-hole for the second time.**

**"****Come on, Liz. What did you want to talk to me about?" asked Hermione, who had gotten to her feet and stepped away from her lover, towards her friend.**

**"****It's fine, 'Mione," replied the Slytherin with a smile that barely creased the corners of her eyes and did little to disguise the dead, tired look in them. "It doesn't matter. It can wait."**

**"****No, it can't," asserted Hermione, firmly. She seemed to consider reaching out to the older girl but evidently thought it unwise. "Come and talk; they won't judge you."**

**"****I can't! They're your friends; they can never accept me. Don't worry, I know I've done too much damage to be accepted here. Look, I'll–"**

**"****Are you two coming to sit down?" called Ginny, cleanly cutting off another of the young queen's self-denying comments. Resigned to the fact that she would be accepted into the Gryffindor circle, Elizabeth allowed Hermione to propel her onto the hearth rug. As she settled herself down, the newly-engaged woman was overpowered by memories of the previous night. She could hardly believe that so little time had passed, her day had been so full. She was startled from drowning in her reflections by a timid arm being slipped around her neck. Elizabeth's haunted pupils turned from her thoughts to the visage of Neville Longbottom and pulled the corners of her mouth up with them.**

**"****What's wrong with her?" Ron asked Hermione, regarding the new arrival warily.**

**"****Why don't you ask ****_her_****, Ronald?" answered Hermione snappishly, she was worried about her friend but had told only her boyfriend about the night before.**

**"****Hermione," said Remus Lupin quietly, laying his hand repressively on the young woman's arm. "Elizabeth, what has happened?" The woman, and he had to concede that she was more of a woman even than his own Hermione, looked up at him with those haunted eyes.**

**"****The only thing that ****_hasn't_**** happened is Mar- Voldemort returning. Everyone else came back to torment me today," she added bitterly, glancing down at the patch of threadbare rug beside Neville's right knee.**

**"****What were you about to call him?" asked Harry, curiously, leaning forward but without removing his arm from around his girlfriend.**

**"****Marvolo. He preferred it to Tom and one way of creating an appearance of intimacy is to use a name that no-one else uses," she explained in a cold, detached manner that only worried Hermione further.**

**"****Who was tormenting you?" prompted Remus, gently. Elizabeth looked up at him and gave him an inquisitive glare, masked with a sardonic half-smile. Suddenly, the exhaustion she had been withholding for weeks swept through, removing all of her barriers. She was safe here. She could talk here. So, she did.**

**"****Let's see," she began with a bitter edge as sharp as Gryffindor's sword lining her voice. "The day, that is the period of twenty-four hours, began with Severus returning from patrol and discovering that I am pregnant." Ginny gasped but smiled, the boys all shifted uncomfortably and Remus and Hermione kept encouraging and supportive looks on their faces but it was Luna who reached across, gently laid her hand on Elizabeth's arm and smiled:**

**"****That's wonderful news. I am sorry." The Slytherin queen looked at her, tears welling in her eyes and then pressed on.**

**"****After leaving, I came here and Minerva and Hermione put me to bed." – unsurprisingly, the younger Gryffindors all turned surprised looks on the head girl – "When I woke up later that morning, I went for a shower. I had to cut it short, someone was knocking on the door. I thought it was Hermione but it was Severus." Another round of shock and surprise, except that now Hermione left the comfort of the couch to kneel in front of her friend and take her hands. "He... he tried..." Elizabeth shook back her tears and shoved the lump to beneath her voice box. "He was acting like he thought Marvolo had. I... somehow, managed to push him off. He left me and I... got myself ready for breakfast."**

**"****Oh, no," gasped Hermione. "I thought you would want some solitude, so I stayed in Ginny's dorm. I am so sorry. I should have stayed." Elizabeth shook her head.**

**"****He would have come anyway. Besides, Draco took good care of me." The boatload all stiffened at the name of the young Mister Malfoy.  
'****_I don't believe this!_****  
'****_Why not?_****  
'****_They have a problem with Draco, who was barely a Death Eater, but they'll let His concubine ramble on to them about her problems! That is insane!_****'  
"As we were leaving for Hogsmeade–"**

**"****Yeah, we saw," Harry informed her with a nod.**

**"****All of it?" He nodded again. "Very well. After that, the three of us went to Malfoy Manor." She smiled, a beautiful, nostalgic smile. That home housed so many wonderful moments for her. "We found that Severus had already arrived."**

**"****That must have been hard," said Remus softly, laying a hand on her shoulder, despite the continued presence of Neville's protective arm.**

**"****Yeah, well, I was the one who had ****_Lucius_**** invite him, so I had to deal with it." The woman could not resist the urge to smirk and slip a sensuous tone into her voice upon saying the elder Malfoy's name, despite her general melancholia. "We did, of course, argue – without speaking. I then went to change into some clean clothes, as I hadn't brought any with me here, and he caught me on my way back down the stairs. He apologised and we became betrothed." Elizabeth turned her head to the right, away from Neville but Luna saw the tears that slid out of the corner of her eye.**

**"****Don't you love him?" asked the Ravenclaw.**

**"****I don't know!" moaned the Slytherin queen, her head tipping back as she rose vertically from the mess of supportive good guys. She stepped through them and paced to the portrait hole.**

**"****Oh, Liz," sighed Hermione, turning to watch her friend. Remus touched her lightly on the shoulder and then got up. He walked up behind Elizabeth and wrapped his arms across her chest from behind. At first, Elizabeth stiffened and almost threw him off but then she recognised his scent.**

**"****Remus..." she groaned, laying her head back against his shoulder.**

**"****I know, Beth," he soothed, gently rubbing her arm with his thumb. "You're in love with him, it will just take you a bit longer but Severus loves you. For all his faults, and Lord alone knows I've seen them more than most, he loves you."**

**"****I know," she sighed, a hand running through her hair. "That's why I can't do this to him."**

**"****I hear that Fudge has a new scheme afoot," said Remus, pointedly, as he turned her around to face him. Elizabeth smiled, Remus always had the gentlest way of telling her he was right.**

**"****Yes. You and Hermione really must hurry."**

**"****Actually," said the younger woman in question, jumping to her feet and coming to reclaim her boyfriend. "If you and Severus are also looking to get married soon..."**

**"****Oh, no," groaned Harry as Ginny turned shining eyes on the group by the door.**

**"****A triple wedding?" suggested the youngest Weasley.**

**"****Well," said Hermione in her most pragmatic voice. "If we all want to marry here, it would make sense to do it all at once."**

**"****Severus would ****_love_**** that," laughed Elizabeth. The three brides-to-be then sat down to plan the ceremony, reception and guest list with Luna, while Harry and Ron started a chess tournament and Neville and Remus began discussing plants and their medicinal properties. When Ron's stomach called them to the Great Hall, Elizabeth sat back from the reams of scrap paper that the four girls had covered and grinned. "I'll tell you what, Hermione, this should at least get us out of organising the ****Halloween Masque Ball."**

_EG_

**The crowd that was the eight from the head girl's rooms made their way slowly but noisily through the corridors and down the stairs, despite Ron's attempts to hurry them along. As they capered down the marble staircase, Elizabeth spotted a familiar dark head surrounded by four lighter ones and a blonde one. She moved herself strategically behind Ron and Neville, the tallest members of the crowd, and kept her face averted.**

**"****I really don't know why you are making such a fuss," said the tall blonde in the voice of a bored aristocrat. "It was obvious after the fighting ended that Master Malfoy would never take you to wife. He's undoubtedly going to choose a nice little Gryffindor or Hufflepuff." The girl gave a wheezing laugh that turned into a cough.**

**"****I would watch that, if I were you, Adelaide. It sounds like a curse," hissed the brunette standing closest to the blonde.**

**"****Honestly, Anna!" exclaimed the brunette's frustrated older, darker sister. Elizabeth made very sure that the Gryffindor group obscured her, none of those ladies would want to see her. All of them, except perhaps Pansy, would crowd around her, seeking her favour and assistance but they, none of them, actually cared for her. They thought her an upstart social-climber with some distasteful contacts that would disgrace a more respectable girl. Luna, Elizabeth and Remus split off from the main group just inside the Great Hall, after making their goodbyes to Hermione at respective levels of warmth and intimacy. Luna left the two comrades at the foot of the Ravenclaw table to join her classmates. Remus and Elizabeth made it to the far wall and walked towards the top table in companionable silence and arm in arm. They had barely reached the head of the table when Elizabeth spotted her fiancé. She winced at the memory of how she had treated him when they returned from Lucius' manor.**

**'****_I _****__****was****_ exhausted.  
_****'****_True but that was no reason for behaving like that._****  
'****_He's probably furious at me!_****  
'****_Remember to thank God for Remus._****  
'****_I can only hope._****' Her defence instructor had dragged her along with him but then sat between Professors Flitwick and Sinstra, leaving her to walk the last ten feet alone. She felt like a kid on her way to confess and be punished for breaking some precious ornament. Despite herself, and hours of Lucius' deportment classes, Elizabeth's shoulders hunched and her head bowed. She stopped her slow, reluctant tread when she was on a level with the back of the empty chair to Severus' right. In a moment of absolute apprehension, she allowed her left incisors to claim her top lip.**

**"****Severus," she murmured in order to attract his attention, although it probably only reached his elbow as her head was dipped so low. Because her eyes were so lowered, she also failed to notice if he reacted. "I am so, ****_so_**** sorry for how I acted earlier. Also, I should have told you I was pregnant and I'm sorry I didn't. I was being completely unreasonable... on both occasions." His hand reached out to her. He gently took her hand and pulled her towards him. Just as when she was seven and had cracked her mother's favourite photograph frame, because she had been trying to work out how to open it, Elizabeth found that confessing meant she did not get punished. Severus pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her protectively. He then kissed her on the side of her neck.**

**"****I love you," he murmured. "Why can't you accept that and be happy?"**

**"****Because I'm a masochist? Because I only feel comfortable if something's going wrong?" she suggested, laying her head back against his shoulder.**

**"****Well, you had better learn to be comfortable with it. I'm marrying you in November."**

**"****Uh, yeah," Elizabeth said shiftily, trying to pull away from him. "About that, Sev." He was worried now, he never liked anything she prefaced with that despicable abbreviation of his equally disgusting name. "I was at Hermione's earlier, once we got back. And, well, she had a whole group of her friends there. We got chatting about the day and I told them we were engaged and so... Well, Ginny suggested that as Harry, Hermione and you all insist on getting married here how about we have a combined wedding so that the Hall only has to be converted once." **

**"****That sounds like an excellent idea, Miss Havisham," smiled the headmistress with that inherent twinkle in her eyes. The former head of Gryffindor had evidently only just arrived and her first act of the evening was to infuriate her previous Quidditch rival. The Slytherins exchanged glances and silently swore to force baby-sitting on the Scotswoman.**

******A/N: I really hope you guys have liked this chapter; it's my favourite so far.**

******I think the next chapter will probably be the triple wedding and then we can head into the murky depths of not-so-blissful marriage. If you haven't already guessed, this is not a fairy tale, Elizabeth's problems are not going to vanish just because she says 'I do'.**


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